INCANTATIONS

Krystal grew up idolizing her grandfather, Sookedo Mungroo, a wealthy Hindu landowner in Trinidad. And when the family moved to New Jersey, she lived and worked nearby him in Bayonne. But after he fell into a coma in 2006, his wife Rachael began acting strangely, indifferent to, or even—could it be?—grateful for his death.

With Sookedo incapacitated, Rachael and Krys’ mother, Mala, at last confided to her the truth about her grandfather. Finally safe, their stories poured out: the acts of violence he unleashed upon them for decades, both physical and emotional. Krys began to see that the grandfather and the Trinidad she loved were little more than illusion, and traditions of violence and brutal suppression were her family’s and the island’s shared history. What she learned was that her mother and grandmother kept their family’s past a secret so she could have a future.

This memoir—a short, powerful book, written in interwoven vignettes—brings us into their family history as Krystal sifts through stories from three generations. Krystal hunts the mystery of her grandfather, to find who he really was, what drove him, and why the women around him kept his secrets for so many years. Each story brings into focus the women in her family, and asks the questions: Can you love someone despite their cruelty? How can one stop a cycle of violence? Do tradition and honor trump all? Can Krsytal and her family find peace with the past?

Set in the mountain regions of Trinidad, a vivid and lush landscape, and on the coffee fields, plantations, and in the growing city, Incantations tells of the unearthing of human desire and endurance. Reminiscent of Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala—a devastating, powerful story of death and of survival—and of Elizabeth Alexander’s deeply emotional The Light of the World, this is a story of mothers and daughters finding their voices.

Krystal Sital was born in Trinidad and moved to the United States in 1999. She studied psychology and writing at New Jersey City University where she was awarded the Walter Glospie Academy of American Poets Prize and went on to Hunter College, where she was a Hertog Fellow. A 2015 PEN/Fusion Emerging Writers Award finalist, her work has been published in Salon, Brain Child and other literary journals. Krystal teaches writing at NJCU and lives in New Jersey with her husband and their two daughters.