A High Wind in Jamaica

Praise

“This brilliant, gorgeously written, highly entertaining, and apparently light-hearted idyll quickly reveals its true nature as a powerful and profoundly disquieting meditation on the meaning of loyalty and betrayal, innocence and corruption, truth and deception.” — Francine Prose, Elle

“During one snowy day, I read the whole book in one gulp. It was remarkable, tiny, crazy. I felt just like I did as a kid.” — Andrew Sean Greer, All Things Considered, NPR 

“A surprisingly terrifying short novel about children kidnapped by pirates, elevated from its silliness by surprising moments of violence and introspection, as well as repeated flourishes of literary brilliance. Also, it’s funny.” —Emily Temple, Lit Hub, “20 Short Novels to Stay Up All Night Reading”

“A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes is like those books you used to read under the covers with a flashlight, only infinitely more delicious and macabre.”

— Andrew Sean Greer, All Things Considered, NPR

“Cross a wacky seafaring adventure–Conrad gone awry via inept piracy–with an exploration of the consciousness of a child as radical and insightful as that provided by Henry James in What Maisie Knew, and you have A High Wind In Jamaica by Richard Hughes….By turns funny, ironic, and brutally sad, this is a complex and astonishing novel.”—Sue Miller, Barnes and Noble Review