First published 2004
Léah Ochún emerges from the Caribbean Sea near Cap Haitien one morning, her clothing mysteriously dry, blue stones circling her throat, her eyes unable to see light. Her arrival marks the beginning of intersecting destinies during Haiti's darkest years under military rule in the early 1990s. Carmen travels back to Haiti from Canada, pregnant and drawn by forces she cannot name, answering what feels like a vodou calling. Alexis makes the opposite journey, abandoning the island to seek peace elsewhere. Philippe wanders the northern mountains, listening for the voices of ancestors that still speak from the peaks and valleys, his gay identity commodified by the tourist industry while AIDS ravages his body and he fights to preserve his spiritual integrity and hope. These four witnesses to the terror of the Duvalier years find their paths crossing in ways that reveal both human frailty and the power of remembrance to overcome despair.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, african-american-historical-fiction
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: intersecting-destinies, power-of-remembrance
Setting: Cap Haitien, Canada, Haiti, Northern Mountains
Period: Early 1990s, Duvalier Years
294 pages · Paperback · Mango Publishing
Content warnings: violence