When the Sea Broke from Gourd: Eight Taíno Myths Retold

Before the Caribbean had its present shores, the sea waited inside a gourd.In When the Sea Broke from the Gourd, eight interconnected retellings draw from surviving Taíno traditions of caves, voyagers, turtle mothers, sacred cassava, storm powers, and the country of the dead.A woman returning to hurricane-struck Borikén enters a newly revealed cave and encounters stories carried across five centuries: the first people emerging into sunlight, four brothers who accidentally release the ocean, Guabancex turning through the sky, and a faithful dog guarding the road to Coaybay.Atmospheric and lyrical, this collection reimagines Indigenous Caribbean mythology while clearly distinguishing surviving traditions from newly created dialogue, characters, and events.For readers interested in: - Taíno and Caribbean mythology - Puerto Rican and Indigenous Caribbean heritage - Literary retellings of ancient myths - Folklore, creation stories, and magical realism - Lesser-known mythological traditionsThe stories may survive only in fragments-but the island still remembers.