'AN OUTSTANDING DEBUT' CHERIE JONES, author of How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps her House

'VIVID AND AUTHENTIC' LEONE ROSS, author of This One Sky Day

At eighteen years old, Dinah gave away her baby son to the rich couple she worked for before they left Jamaica. They never returned. She never forgot him.

Eighteen years later, a young man comes from the US to Kingston. From the moment she sees him, Dinah never doubts - this is her son.

What happens next will make everyone question what they know and where they belong.

A powerful story of belonging, identity and inheritance, What a Mother's Love Don't Teach You brings together a blazing chorus of voices to evoke Jamaica's ghetto, dance halls, criminal underworld and corrupt politics, at the beating heart of which is a mother's unshakeable love for her son.

'TAKES US ON A WONDERFUL MULTIFACETED JOURNEY THORUGH THE LIVES, LOVES, PLEASURES AND ATROCITIES OF THE FOLKS OF KINGSTON' JACOB ROSS, author of The Bone Readers

'A PROPULSIVE AND BREATHTAKING STORY' MAISY CARD, author of These Ghosts are Family

'A GRIPPING PAGE-TURNER' CAMILLE HERNÁNDEZ-RAMDWAR, author of Suite as Sugar and Other Stories

'AN EXCITING READ' YEWANDE OMOTOSO, author of An Unusual Grief

'A WONDERFUL DEBUT NOVEL' GILLIAN ROYES, author of the Shad series

'TAYLOR'S GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENT IS HOW SHE CAPTURES THE DARKNESS OF THE GHETTO WHILE NEVER DIMMING THE VIVACITY, DETERMINATION AND EXUBERANCE DISPLAYED BY ITS PEOPLE. THIS IS A THRILLING READ' CELESTE MOHAMMED, author of Pleasantview

*Winner of the 2025 CARICON FICTION PRIZE and shortlisted for the 2025 WILBUR SMITH ADVENTURE PRIZE*

'The past is uprooted, the present holds on by thread, and in the midst of it all is Miss Pauline, strong, conflicted, driven and remarkable.' Marlon James, Booker Prize-winning author of MOON WITCH, SPIDER KING

'Delightful and big-hearted . . . It kept me turning pages deep into the night, and left me full of admiration at the end.' Claire Adam, Guardian

'One of the Caribbean's finest writers . . . Her novels are building blocks of the current Caribbean canon and will be read for years to come.' Monique Roffey, author of THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH

When the stones of her home begin to rattle and call out to her in the quiet of the night, Pauline Sinclair knows she will not live to see her 100th birthday.

From educating herself through stolen books to becoming one of the most successful ganja farmers in the area and raising a family, Pauline has lived a life on her own terms in Mason Hall, a rural Jamaican village.

Yet these whispering walls promise to topple the foundations of her security and exhume Pauline's many buried secrets, including the mysterious disappearance of the man who came to claim the very land on which she built her home, stone by stone, from the ruins of a plantation.

Compelled to make peace before she dies, Pauline decides to leave the only home she has ever known on a final, desperate mission to uncover truths she could never have imagined . . .

Lyrical, funny, eerie and profound, A House for Miss Pauline tells a timely and nuanced tale, infused with the patois and natural beauty of Jamaica, which questions who owns the land on which our identities are forged.

'History's crimes unfurl in this magical story . . . McCaulay's immaculate, breathtaking writing carries it with poise and conviction.' Lisa Allen-Agostini, author of THE BREAD THE DEVIL KNEAD

'Where has Diana McCaulay been all my reading life? . . . A profound and beautiful novel of encounters with the past and atonements in the present.' Julia Alvarez, author of THE CEMETERY OF UNTOLD STORIES