Camino Ghosts

Content Warning: This section discusses graphic violence, rape, child death, and racism.

As a recurrent symbol in the novel, Dark Isle reflects Black people’s experience in the US. Throughout, the narrative characterizes Dark Isle as a place of pain and survival. This fictional setting reinforces the book’s sense of mystery and is the center of the story’s legal conflict between Lovely and the Tidal Breeze corporation. Dark Isle is Lovely’s homeland and is a “sacred ground” for her since it’s the place where her ancestors are buried. To Tidal Breeze, though, Dark Isle’s uninhabited land is most suitable for land development. However, Dark Isle remains difficult to develop due to its dark history and harsh environment. Consequently, all white people who attempt to approach the island die.

Early in the novel, John Grisham describes Dark Isle as a deserted and undeveloped barrier island off the Florida Coast which once was a “haven” for self-emancipated Black people from Georgia. As the story unfolds, Dark Isle emerges as the place where Nalla landed after the ship Venus, which transported her and other enslaved Africans to the US, sank during a storm.