"Allende is a master storyteller at the peak of her powers."--Los
Angeles Times
The New York Times bestselling author of The House of the Spirits
and A Long Petal of the Sea tells the story of one unforgettable
woman--a slave and concubine determined to take control of her own
destiny--in this sweeping historical novel that moves from the sugar
plantations of Saint-Domingue to the lavish parlors of New Orleans at
the turn of the ninteenth century.
The daughter of an African mother she never knew and a white sailor,
Zarité--known as Tété--was born a slave on the island of Saint-Domingue.
Growing up amid brutality and fear, Tété found solace in the traditional
rhythms of African drums and the mysteries of voodoo.
Her life changes when twenty-year-old Toulouse Valmorain arrives on the
island in 1770 to run his father's plantation, Saint Lazare. Overwhelmed
by the challenges of his responsibilities and trapped in a painful
marriage, Valmorain turns to his teenaged slave Tété, who becomes his
most important confidant. The indelible bond they share will connect
them across four tumultuous decades and ultimately define their lives.