Published by Harper Collins in Canada and Tin House in the USA, What Storm, What Thunder is a haunting and revelatory portrait of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. The publisher Tin House describes it as “a reckoning of the heartbreaking trauma of disaster, and—at the same time—an unforgettable testimony to the tenacity of the human spirit.” Chancy's novel is widely regarded as one of the best novels of 2021. What Storm, What Thunder was named the Best Book of 2021 by Kirkus, NPR, the New York Public Library, Chicago Public Library, and the Boston Globe. It was awarded the 2022 American Book Award by the Before Columbus Foundation and shortlisted for multiple other awards.
What Storm, What Thunder was published in September of 2021 just a month after Haiti was hit with another earthquake on August 14, 2021. The book offered timely insight not just on what the country and its people experienced in 2010 but what, in the wake of the most recent earthquake, was being brought up again. In her novel, Chancy provides historical and modern day context for why the earthquakes had such devastating impacts on Haiti. She builds on the historical and anti-colonial work of Silencing the Past, by Haitian anthropologist Michel Rolph-Trouillot. His book looks at how Haiti’s poverty can be directly traced to the enormous indemnity France forced the newly independent country to pay in order to participate in global trade. Furthermore, Chancy’s novel joins Beverly Bell's book Fault Lines in shedding light on the complete failure of international aid after the 2010 earthquake.
Although What Storm, What Thunder is a work of fiction, Chancy was inspired by numerous conversations she had with fellow Haitians in the years after the earthquake. Listening to their personal experiences was a big part of Chancy’s writing process and helped her capture the individual layers of a national tragedy. Chancy’s own personal experience and family history also influenced the work. Chancy’s great-grandmother was a market woman in the early 1900's and inspired Ma Lou’s character.
