'I am living on the white-washed island of Ibiza with my friend Catherine Shuger, a sculptor who has been declared legally insane, and her husband, Ernest. Standing on the terrace, sheltered in the smell of oranges and eucalyptus, washed in sunlight, you'd swear this was a paradise. But to tell the truth the place is full of dangers. You see, Catherine sometimes tries to kill her husband. It has been this way for years . . .'

'My name's Amanda Wordlaw. Wonderful name for a writer, isn't it? I guess I'm sort of a choice companion for the Shugers - professional watcher and listener that I am. It's like they need someone else to witness the shit, the spectacle they make of themselves.'

[Hopefully quotes for this book, but in the meantime, quotes for Palmares]

Praise for Palmares

'Gayl Jones is a literary legend . . . A once-in-a-lifetime work of literature, the kind that changes your understanding of the world' Yara Rodrigues Fowler, Guardian

'A story woven with extraordinary complexity, depth and skill . . . After suffering the author's absence for far too long, we can rejoice at her return' Robert Jones, Jr, New York Times

'Page after breathtaking page, her prose is intricate, mesmerising, and endlessly inventive and subversive. Palmares is absolutely stunning!' Deesha Philyaw, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

'A masterfully absorbing, mythic work from a vital voice. The gods have conspired to gift us a new book from Gayl Jones and my what a gloriously eddying read' Irenosen Okojie, author of Nudibranch

'Astonishingly rich in character and incident, filled with magic and mystery' The Sunday Times