Using interwoven narratives — present-day United States, Trinidad, and the political tumult of Jamaica in the 1980s — Carol Mitchell's debut gives voice to the immigrant woman whose veneer of middle-class stability masks the violent trauma of a prior life.

Carol Mitchell describes herself (in jest) as being in self-imposed exile from her Caribbean home. She holds an MFA and teaches writing in Virginia. She is also a fellow of the Virginia Center for Creative Arts. Her short stories have appeared in various Caribbean journals and four of them have been long-listed for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. She has written 18 children’s books. What Start Bad a Mornin' is her debut adult novel.