One Year of Ugly (The Borough Press), the debut novel by Trinidadian Caroline Mackenzie, is a sly, zippy dark comedy set in contemporary T&T, combining elements of romance and crime fiction. The extended Palacios family, Venezuelan migrants living comfortably though illegally in Trinidad, become entangled with a local crime boss named Ugly, following the death of their larger-than-life Aunt Celia. As the Palacios clan negotiate their tricky situation, daughter Yola — herself a budding fiction writer — finds herself drawn to Ugly’s mysterious right-hand man, as secrets begin to spill.