Alicia, Mars and Heaven are twenty-something coworkers who find themselves on a quest to return River Mumma’s comb. They share knowledge of their Jamaican heritage in order to move through different stages of the quest.
Alicia is the first to see River Mumma, who appears to her late one night as she walks home alone through a dark Toronto park. River Mumma drags Alicia down into a river where Alicia sees her ancestors and starts to reconnect to the magic and folklore of Jamaica. In contrast, Heaven, who is most knowledgable of her heritage, is the last to see River Mumma. Her pride and convictions work against her, but her friendship with a healer really saves the day when Alicia and Mars are infected wtih duppie sickness (duppies are malevolent spirits who chase the trio through the city, preventing them from completing their task).
River Mumma has a quiet level of magical realism to it. Yes, there’s a diety, a quest, duppies, and weird, unexplainable stuff that happens but it’s mostly a novel about accepting your family history and embracing your life journey.