First published 2003
Jeanne Duval faces off with her volatile lover Charles Baudelaire in twilight Paris. She descends from African slaves and white sailors, her spirit as fiery as the ginger root she resembles. Across time, two other women struggle with their own chains. Mer works as a plantation doctor, her healing hands at odds with her sickened spirit as she both craves and fears freedom. Thais, sold into slavery and prostitution as a girl in Alexandria, seeks divine revelation on the dusty roads to Jerusalem. The goddess Ezili connects all three women across centuries, born from vibrant hope and its destruction. As Jeanne battles Baudelaire's moods, as revolution tests Mer's loyalties, and as Thais encounters the eternal, their stories weave together. Hopkinson braids acts of violence with unions of flesh and spirit, exploring how women relate to lovers, to each other, and to the divine. The novel traces paths of sexuality, liberation, and transcendence through the experiences of unforgettable characters seeking something beyond their immediate suffering.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, african-literature, 19th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, lyrical
Tropes: found-family, interconnected-stories
Setting: Alexandria, Jerusalem, Paris, Plantation
Period: 19th Century, 20th Century
394 pages · Hardcover · Warner Books
Content warnings: colonialism, slavery, violence