Camino Ghosts

A recurring character in the Camino series, Bruce Cable is one of the novel’s main characters. Mercer’s former lover and current friend, Bruce is a bookseller who owns the independent bookstore Bay Books (on Camino Island), a business he has turned into a “powerhouse.” Bruce is a devoted lover of literature, supporting writers with whom he becomes friends. He’s an energetic professional, constantly networking, and knows many “writers, agents, editors, publishers, executives, book reviewers, critics, and many other booksellers” (43). His bookstore is a hub in the Camino Island community, where people spend time reading and drinking coffee, a “ritual” for the locals. Bruce sells books by various writers, including Lovely’s self-published memoir, indicating his interest in both mainstream and marginalized literary voices. When Bruce befriended Lovely, even though she had sold some copies of her book, he organized a signing for her to promote it, fascinated by the story himself. Always a supporting friend, Bruce introduces Mercer to Lovely and to the history of Dark Isle. Bruce describes that history in detail; he and Lovely have a relationship of mutual respect, and Bruce makes sure she knows that his bookstore is a safe and welcoming environment for her.

While Bruce isn’t practically involved in Lovely’s case, his role is pivotal because he summons Steven Mahon, a litigator who manages a nonprofit organization and fights corporations and environmental destruction. Steven becomes Lovely’s lawyer and helps her throughout the lawsuit and trial. During this process, Bruce is alert on the case while also encouraging Mercer in her writing. In addition, Bruce is friends with Gifford Knox, a writer and environmental activist who assists with the case outside the courtroom, following Bruce’s prompts. Bruce remains a faithful friend to Lovely and Mercer. Throughout the case, Bruce provides Lovely’s support team with ideas and plans that prove crucial for the legal battle.

Another central character in the novel is the 80-year-old Black author Lovely Jackson. The story centers on her life and experiences as well as her memoir and stories. Lovely is the author of The Dark History of Dark Isle, a self-published book about her life and her ancestors’ lives on Dark Isle. Her memoir is on the bookshelves of Bruce’s bookstore. She lives alone on Camino Island in a quiet neighborhood called the Docks near the canneries where she once worked. Lovely claims to be the “sole owner” of Dark Isle since she’s the last descendant of its self-emancipated community.

Lovely was born in 1940 on Dark Isle and left the island with her mother when she was 15 years old. The book describes her as an “African queen”; Grisham often emphasizes her African-style clothing, which includes colorful robes, turbans, and shark-teeth necklaces. Lovely spends most of her time tending to her garden, and her neighbor Miss Naomi looks after her. To Lovely, Dark Isle is “sacred ground,” the place where her ancestors are buried. She already knows Tidal Breeze’s intentions for development and considers them another threat by white men against her home. Lovely is initially reticent when Bruce invites her to his bookstore to meet Mercer and Steven, but she trusts him. With Bruce’s and Steven’s help and prompt, Lovely files a lawsuit against Tidal Breeze to claim ownership of Dark Isle and stop its development plans. In addition, she meets Mercer and allows her to retell her story from a contemporary perspective. Lovely has no legal proof of her ownership apart from her memoir and Nalla’s curse. As the story unfolds, it gradually reveals Lovely’s life story. Apart from her life experiences, Lovely remembers most of her history from her ancestors’ oral storytelling, through which she learned her great-grandmother Nalla’s story.

Lovely lacks a birth certificate and so did her parents and grandparents. Consequently, her friends often contest the reality of her stories, thinking either that they’re fictional or that her memory has weakened. Loss and resilience characterize Lovely’s life. She describes life on Dark Isle to Diane, emphasizing that people struggled to survive and lived in constant fear. They built a community with structure, religion, school, and daily routines, but as time passed, people couldn’t find enough food and died young of diseases, so the population declined. They frequently confronted threats by enslavers and remained isolated to protect their freedom. Because most of her relatives died and there were no more people on the island, Lovely and her mother were forced to leave. They moved to Santa Rosa, where Lovely attended school. In her early twenties, she worked as a housekeeper. Once, one of her employees, a widow with whom she became friends, left her part of her money when she died. Lovely got married and lost a child, and soon her husband left her. Despite leaving Dark Isle, she continued visiting the island to tend the cemetery. Lovely decided to author a book about Dark Isle to “preserve” the history of her ancestors. During the trial, Lovely’s testimony describes the Black experience in the US. She responds to the Tidal Breeze’s lawyers, who accuse her of being inconsistent, emphasizing that her people didn’t receive a proper education like white children did and were neglected and marginalized by the Florida state. This is evident in that for years, Lovely claimed her land by requesting to pay taxes but was repeatedly ignored by officials. Ultimately, Lovely wins the case against Tidal Breeze and wants only to secure the preservation of her island.

Lovely’s role is crucial in the story because she “lifts” Nalla’s curse, making Dark Isle a safe environment for white people. The scene in which she burns two cotton wicks, raising her hands to evoke the spirits of her ancestors, adds a mystical dimension to her character and emphasizes her spirituality. Lovely inherited the voodoo ability from her female ancestors, including Nalla.

While Lovely’s memoir previously sold few copies, it goes to reprint after Mercer’s book is published. Lovely joins Mercer for readings during her book tour, but soon after it she has a stroke. Her health gradually declines, and she enters a rehab facility since she’s partly paralyzed. Days later, Lovely dies, and her friends Mercer and Diane fulfill her last wish to be buried on Dark Isle.

Although not a character, Tidal Breeze is the story’s antagonist, an ominous force representing the destructive effects of corporate capitalism on the environment and cultural heritage. Tidal Breeze is a corporation founded by the Larney family of Miami in 1970. Through the years, the company experienced “frenetic growth” and displayed greed as Wilson, the heir, constantly devised “ideas and schemes to build and develop even more” (136). The text describes Tidal Breeze’s methods of tax evasion and dubious means of achieving and maintaining profit, indicating the corporation’s long history of corruption. Tidal Breeze’s abuse of power is also evident in that it simultaneously attempts to influence state politicians in favor of development to promote their plans. In the end, Lovely defeats Tidal Breeze, ensuring that justice triumphs over exploitation and profit.

Lovely’s great-grandmother, according to her memoir, is Nalla. While not a living character in the story, she’s a central figure throughout the narrative, whose story relates to the theme of Reckoning with the Dark Historical Past. Her life story is part of Lovely’s memoir, which describes Nalla as “a high priestess of African spirits and medicine (213).

Nalla was a 19-year-old African woman, a member of a Luba community, and lived in the Kingdom of Kongo with her husband, Mosi, and their three-year-old son, when enslavers abducted her. She was transported to the US under abominable conditions, and her story illustrates the dehumanization that Black people experienced during the trade in enslaved African people. Nalla was separated from her family forever; she and other African women were repeatedly abused and raped during the trip to the US on the ship Venus. When Venus encountered a storm, Nalla and only a few others survived the shipwreck landing on Dark Isle. There, they met a self-emancipated community from Georgia, and the leader, Joseph, welcomed them and told them they were finally safe. Joseph explained that the community was determined to fight for their freedom, repelling all enslavers who tried to take them back. Soon, Nalla discovered that Joseph and his men had captured white men from Venus who also survived. Among them, Nalla identified her rapist, Monk. When she explained to Joseph what happened on the ship, the men hung the enslavers from the trees. Nalla performed a traditional ritual, the voodoo, which her mother and grandmothers passed down to her. This voodoo became a curse that kept white men away from the island for centuries. After her ritual, Nalla slashed Monk’s throat.

Nalla adjusted to the community, continuing to be “vigilant” against the enslavers. Lovely’s memoir suggests that Nalla was pregnant when she arrived in Dark Isle as a result of her rape, and she gave birth to a son with lighter skin. Lovely eventually married Joseph, and they had three children together. Joseph died at a young age of a disease like many others on Dark Isle.