Secrets & Identity
Honeysuckle and Bone by Trisha Tobias. On paper, it is a YA novel. In reality, it reads like a mirror for anyone navigating Caribbean heritage, family secrets and the pressure of growing up in public on social media. I’ve written an official review of the book which you read here.
In this episode of Carry On Friends, part of the Read and Carry On series. I sit down with memoirist Nicole Dubois and comedian and writer Onicia Muller to have a book club like discussion about why this book lingered with us long after the last page.
As we talk through the story, we pull on familiar Caribbean threads: class dynamics, the quiet labor of staff who know too much, and how power operates when politics and reputation are on the line.
Underneath the duppy and the estate, Honeysuckle and Bone is really about identity in the age of social media. Karina’s choices are shaped by envy, comparison and the constant awareness of what other people seem to have. We connected that to our own experiences as parents, the impact of online shame, and how quickly secrets can spiral when everything can be screenshotted and shared. The story invites us to ask a hard question: at what point do the secrets we keep to protect our children start to harm them, especially when they are already piecing things together from what they see and feel.
In the end, we agreed that this book is a rich entry point for conversations about Caribbean diaspora identity, parenting, social media and spirituality. It is a YA novel that adults, especially Caribbean parents should read. If you have read Honeysuckle and Bone, I would love to hear your thoughts. What did the story stir up for you about home, truth and the things our children carry in silence?
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