When We Were BirdsWhen We Were Birds

"The introduction of a singularly stunning new voice in fiction, Ayanna Gillian Lloyd's The Gatekeepers is a mythic love story set in contemporary Trinidad & Tobago about two young outsiders brought together by their connection with the dead"-- Provided by publisher.
The St. Bernard women have lived in Morne Marie, the house on top of a hill outside Port Angeles, for generations. One woman in each generation is responsible for the passage of the city's souls into the afterlife. But when Petronella dies, Yejide is unprepared to fulfill her destiny. Darwin has always abided by the religious commandment not to interact with death, but when his mother can no longer work, the only job he can find is grave digging. Yejide and Darwin meet inside the gates of Fidelis, Port Angeles's largest and oldest cemetery, where the dead lie uneasy in their graves. -- adapted from jacket