About
Allison Ali was born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago. She later moved to New York where she earned a B.A in Political Science and was on the pre-law track with a minor in English Literature. She soon discovered her real love was literature and not law. She loved the stories her grandfather told her when she lived in the Caribbean, so when she had her daughter, she continued that tradition. The Writing Box is her first novel. She loves chai tea, running and watching Bollywood movies.
Featured Work
The Writing Box
Fifteen-year old Julia lives in New York with her conservative parents, Peter and Ana Kilmere. Each summer she spends visiting her grandmother who lives on a Caribbean island. Holidays at grandma's is the best for Julia. She loves the beach, grandma's cooking and best of all her stories. There's also a little something going on with her childhood friend, Jonathan.
On her last night on the island, her grandmother tucks her in with an exotic gift, a family heirloom from India - a writing box. There was a story too. Julia lived in the digital age and couldn't imagine what she would do with the box except to hold her trinkets perhaps. But an accident one rainy evening, a late-night announcement, and three dinner guests shatter her perfect world. These three events causes her to redefine family, sense of self and what happily ever after looks like. Could her grandmother's gift, a relic from the past, help put Julia back together again?
