Book
Island Beneath the Sea
First published 2009
Zarité is born enslaved in colonial Saint-Domingue and purchased for the plantation household of Toulouse Valmorain. Her labour, sexuality and children are controlled by others, yet she builds networks of affection and survival across the divisions of plantation society.
When revolution destroys French rule, Zarité and the Valmorain family flee through war and upheaval to Louisiana. The novel places one woman’s pursuit of freedom within the Haitian Revolution, contrasting the language of liberty with slavery, racial hierarchy and the persistence of coercion after migration.
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