The New Moon's Arms

October 23, 2006
When an abandoned toddler appears on the shore of her Caribbean island home, Chastity Theresa Lambkin, aka "Calamity," becomes a foster mother in her 50s. Years previously, a one time, teenage experiment with a best friend unsure of his sexuality resulted in daughter Ifeoma. As Calamity, who narrates, now freely admits, Ifeoma bore the brunt of Calamity's immaturity, and their relationship still suffers for it. As Calamity relates all of this, things that have been missing for years inexplicably reappear, including an entire cashew tree orchard from Calamity's childhood that shows up in her backyard overnight. It could be island magic, or something much more prosaic. The rescued little boy's origins do have some genuinely magical elements (Calamity names him "Agway" after his foreign-sounding laughter), and Hopkinson's take on "sea people" and how they came to be adds depth and enchantment. Agway's presence, however, ratchets up the tension between Calamity and Ifeoma (who has a lovely son of her own, Stanley). Calamity proves emotionally adroit and winningly frank in a variety of situations (the men in her life have a preponderance of issues), and Hopkinson (The Salt Roads
) gives her story a sassy, loving touch.

November 15, 2006
In the lush islands of the Caribbean, Calamity Lambkin has reached midlife. Her father has just passed on, her relationship with her grown daughter is strained, and she is desperately denying the fact that she is aging. But major changes are set in motion at her father's funeral. A hot flash magically produces a pin she lost in childhood. With each subsequent episode, another childhood object appears, including a small orphaned toddler with webbing between his fingers who speaks an unknown language. Convinced that the child comes from a family of mermaids, Calamity doggedly makes sure of his welfare, undertaking to foster him in her home. Sassy, determined, and all too human, Calamity powers through her triumphs and failures with great emotion and humor as she comes to terms with her daughter, her extended family, and her childhood friends. Award-winning Canadian author Hopkinson ("The Salt Roads") deftly blends Afro-Caribbean folk themes throughout this magical realist tale of love and loss, personal transitions, and family. Warmly recommended for popular fiction collections.Joy St. John, Henderson District P.L., NV

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2007
Calamity Lambkin has just buried her dadda when the kind of tingling she had as a child just before she found something that had been lost assails her. Since she also starts getting hot flashes, she would shrug the tingling off as another change-of-life symptom, except that she starts finding lost things again. One morning she finds an apparently orphaned toddler washed up on the beach. That little boy is the strongest fanciful--magic realist, if you will--element in the earthily charming story of a woman coming to know and accept herself for the first time. As narrator, Calamity is so persuasive that, until she awakens to the ways she has frustrated herself, readers may not know that they've been dying to snap her out of them, too. She is better than she thinks, and so are her daughter, her daughter's father, his lover, the men she woos, and the old friend she reconciles with over the boy from the sea. The West Indian-accented dialogue adds sweetness and color; Calamity's cussing, spice.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)