Zinc And Dust
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Ongoing16m
Last published Tue, Jul 1, 2025
ZINC AND DUST
A novel by Akiel Reid
In the heart of Kingston's forgotten edge-where zinc fences hum with heat and dust rises like memory-twelve-year-old Jania clings to stories like lifelines. Growing up in a shack on the fringes of the Riverton Dump, surrounded by smoke, struggle, and silence, she finds her only refuge in the pages of worn-out books and the flicker of a kerosene lamp.
With a father gone and a mother worn thin by work and sorrow, Jania learns to raise herself with grit, faith, and the company of characters from faraway worlds. But when a spark of hope comes in the form of an unexpected opportunity, she must navigate a world that doesn't easily welcome girls like her-poor, brilliant, and invisible.
Zinc and Dust is a moving portrait of resilience, beauty in broken places, and the quiet fire of a girl determined to rise beyond the weight of her world. In prose both lyrical and grounded, Akiel Reid brings to life a coming-of-age journey set against the backdrop of hardship, where even the smallest light can lead the way.
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