When We Were Birds – Ayanna Lloyd Banwo

True or false?

• AThey were close and loving, but became estranged because she could not accept his work as a gravedigger.
• BThey were never close, and he left home as soon as he was able.
• CShe encouraged him to take the gravedigging job despite his religion.
• DShe had died before he left the countryside, leaving him alone.

• AShe has the power to commune with the dead, an inheritance passed down through the women of her family.
• BShe has always felt close to her mother and gladly takes on her role.
• CHer family is descended from corbeau, the black birds that fly east at sunset.
• DShe is a former Rastafarian who becomes a gravedigger.
• EShe lives in an old house on a hill where the city meets the rainforest.

• AHe is newly arrived in the city of Port Angeles to seek his fortune.
• BHe has always abided by the religious commandment not to interact with death.
• CHe is searching for the father he never met.
• DHe is descended from corbeau and can shepherd souls into the afterlife.
• EHe has never been to a funeral or seen a dead body.

• AA womb and a grave; a cage and a pair of wings
• BA river and a stone; a fire and a feather
• CA door and a window; a root and a branch
• DA song and a silence; a dawn and a dusk

• AStop trying to see one thing, one place
• BAlways keep your eyes closed when the dead speak
• CNever speak the names of the dead aloud
• DLook only at the sky when the corbeau fly east

• ATiny white cotton whispers
• BSmall grey ash feathers
• CPale drifting smoke rings
• DSoft brown paper wings

• AThe whole island houses the dead, because of the violence done to enslaved Africans, Indigenous peoples and indentured workers.
• BThe cemetery at Fidelis is the only true burial ground on the island.
• CHeadstones are unimportant compared with the beauty of the landscape.
• DOnly the St Bernard family are permitted to bury the dead.

• AA fictional urban centre in Trinidad called Port Angeles, with an ancient cemetery and a house on a hill.
• BA real city in Jamaica called Kingston, with a plantation house and a harbour.
• CA fictional island in the Pacific called Morne Marie, with a rainforest and a graveyard.
• DA real city in Guyana called Georgetown, with a market and a river.

• AA dual narrative that switches back and forth between Darwin and Yejide.
• BA first-person narrative told entirely by Yejide.
• CA third-person narrative that follows only Darwin.
• DA series of letters written by Darwin to his mother.

• AThey are black birds that fly east at sunset, taking with them the souls of the dead; Yejide's family is descended from them.
• BThey are a species of parrot kept as pets in Port Angeles.
• CThey are a type of fish found in the rivers around Morne Marie.
• DThey are the name given to the gravediggers who work at Fidelis.

True or false?

True or false?

True or false?

True or false?

• Darwin arrives in Port Angeles to seek his fortune.
• Darwin takes a job as a gravedigger, betraying his mother's Rastafari faith.
• Yejide's mother dies, leaving her the power to talk to the dead.
• Darwin and Yejide meet inside the gates of Fidelis.

• AAs a womb and a grave; a cage and a pair of wings; a feeding tube and a noose.
• BAs a corbeau who flies east at sunset.
• CAs a warm and loving mother who always put her daughter first.
• DAs a stranger who abandoned her at birth.

• AHe has been estranged from his mother because she cannot abide his choice of work.
• BHe takes a job as a gravedigger even though his Rastafari religion prohibits contact with the dead.
• CHe moves to the city hoping to make money for himself and his sick mother.
• DHe has always felt close to his mother and takes on her role willingly.
• EHe is haunted by the spectre of his absent father, who also left for the city to earn money.

• AIt goes against the Rastafari commandment not to interact with death.
• BIt means he has to leave the countryside and move to the city.
• CIt pays too little money to support his sick mother.
• DIt forces him to give up his dreadlocks.

True or false?

• AIt is both a burden she resents and a rebirth that offers her and Darwin a lifeline.
• BIt is a gift she accepts gladly from the start, with no doubts.
• CIt is a punishment for her mother's neglect of her.
• DIt is a power she can refuse without any consequences.

• ABlack love is multifaceted — as simple as holding hands and as heavy as a fated, supernatural meeting — and need not be central to black suffering.
• BBlack love is impossible in a world shaped by slavery and violence.
• CBlack love is only shown through Darwin's relationship with his mother.
• DBlack love is presented as less important than the novel's crime plot.

• AThe metaphor of birds, including the corbeau.
• BThe history of slavery and the violence done to enslaved Africans.
• CTrinidadian Creole and the sights and sounds of Port Angeles.
• DA creation story told by Granny Catherine about animals, humans and flesh-eating birds.
• EA detailed account of Darwin's university education.

• AIt roots the family's supernatural power in resistance to the violence of slavery.
• BIt shows that the family's power is inherited from the plantation owners.
• CIt proves that Maman was a cruel and unjust woman.
• DIt suggests that the family's power has nothing to do with history.

• AThey are described as 'tiny white cotton whispers', suggesting a gentle, supernatural presence.
• BThey are described as black birds flying east at sunset.
• CThey are a sign that the house is falling into disrepair.
• DThey are a warning that Darwin is in danger.

• AThe history of violence gives the obligation to honour ancestors an added urgency, binding the living and the dead in a commitment to justice.
• BThe history of violence is irrelevant to the supernatural plot.
• CThe history of violence is used only to explain why Darwin leaves the countryside.
• DThe history of violence shows that the dead should be forgotten.

• Darwin leaves the countryside for the city of Port Angeles.
• Darwin takes a job as a gravedigger despite his Rastafari beliefs.
• Darwin becomes estranged from his mother over his choice of work.
• Darwin meets Yejide inside the gates of Fidelis cemetery.

• ACaribbean storytelling and the history of slavery make ancestral memory and family legacy central, so the living are bound to the dead.
• BThe novel treats family bonds as unimportant compared with the crime plot.
• CThe novel suggests that family bonds can be escaped by moving to the city.
• DThe novel presents family bonds as purely biological, with no spiritual dimension.

• AIt questions whether it is fair to take on a huge responsibility simply because it is your birthright, and whether free will is possible when you follow in your family's footsteps for the greater good.
• BIt shows that Yejide is delighted to be chosen and never doubts her role.
• CIt suggests that Yejide can easily pass the power to someone else.
• DIt proves that the family's power is a punishment rather than a gift.

• AIt allows us to see each character's separate grief and desperation, so that their eventual meeting fills in what the other is missing.
• BIt makes the novel confusing, because we never learn what either character thinks.
• CIt shows that Darwin and Yejide are identical in every way.
• DIt keeps the two characters entirely apart, so they never meet.

The novel is set in the fictional city of ____ in Trinidad, and much of the action takes place in the cemetery called ____.

Yejide's mother is dying and leaving behind a legacy: one ____ woman in every generation has the power to ____ the city's souls into the afterlife.