The story of the Haitian Revolution is an incredible one that deserves the greatest storyteller. Lo and behold: Allende has woven her magic into what was probably the most remarkable slave uprising in the history of the world. Told mainly through the eyes of Zarité, a resilient and mutely powerful girl who was born into slavery from a Senegalese mother and French father, this work of historical fiction explores the careful network of political, emotional, and spiritual gears that drove the island like clockwork to its inevitable cataclysm. Allende’s magic realist style is masterfully channeled through elements of African and Creole spirituality.