Most of us have faded photos of grandparents or great-grandparents who seem as alien as creatures from another planet or denizens of a sunken civilization. “Fools in old-style hats and coats,” as Philip Larkin terms them in his famous poem This Be the Verse. In her latest novel, Guadeloupean writer Maryse Condé sets out to unearth, by dint of research, family legend and … [Read more...]