First published 2010
Zarité, called Tété, grows up enslaved on the Caribbean island of Saint-Domingue. Her African mother died before she could know her, and her father was one of the white sailors who enslaved her. She endures a childhood of violence and terror, finding comfort only in African drumbeats and the voodoo spirits her fellow slaves teach her. In 1770, twenty-year-old Toulouse Valmorain arrives from France with elaborate wigs and plans to get rich. He takes over his father's sugar plantation, Saint-Lazare, but discovers that managing enslaved workers brings neither glory nor ease. Eight years pass before he marries, yet his bride brings new troubles rather than happiness. Throughout these changes, Valmorain continues to rely on Tété, now a teenager. Over forty years, their lives remain bound together as Tété fights to preserve her humanity despite constant cruelty, searches for love after repeated losses, and struggles to become her own person in a world designed to deny her existence.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, 19th-century, african-american-historical-fiction
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, emotional, intimate
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Saint-Domingue, Saint-Lazare, Caribbean
Period: 1770, 19th-century
457 pages · Hardcover · HarperVia
Content warnings: abuse, slavery, violence