First pub­lished in Cana­da in 1993, Spir­its in the Dark is a pio­neer­ing inter­sec­tion­al nov­el of the LGBTQ+ and Caribbean-Cana­di­an expe­ri­ence that was far ahead of its time. In his pow­er­ful debut nov­el, H. Nigel Thomas writes with com­pelling hon­esty about the con­fus­ing maze of soci­etal pres­sures that par­a­lyze Jerome Quashee while grow­ing up in the Caribbean, and lat­er on in his adult life. Jerome’s intel­li­gence at first promis­es him a gate­way out of the pover­ty his par­ents have known, but he must com­pete with priv­i­leged White boys for schol­ar­ships in a racist, clas­sist cul­ture. Spir­its in the Dark is the sto­ry of a man who repress­es his emerg­ing homo­sex­u­al­i­ty, fear­ing that it will bring his fam­i­ly dis­grace, as he wres­tles with the guilt of know­ing so lit­tle about his African her­itage and the pres­sure to let go his ties to Black cul­ture. Under the spir­i­tu­al guid­ance of Point­er Fran­cis, he under­goes a reli­gious rit­u­al to block all sen­so­ry links to the out­side world in order to see clear­ly into his past and face his demons.