Set against the backdrop of the Duvalier dictatorship and the subsequent refugee crisis, this short story collection tracks the lives of Haitian women navigating political terror and structural poverty. The narratives follow characters like Guy, who attempts to escape Port-au-Prince in a hot air balloon, and Josephine, who visits her mother in a prison where women are accused of witchcraft. These stories link the rural villages of Haiti to the diaspora in New York, focusing on the specific burdens of state violence, the trauma of the "Middle Passage" across the Caribbean Sea, and the oral traditions used to preserve history.
Readers who value historical fiction centered on the female experience during political upheaval will find this text clarifies the human cost of the Haitian refugee crisis. It appeals to those studying the intersections of folklore and systemic oppression. The reader walks away with a concrete understanding of how Caribbean families maintain kinship through migration and how the act of storytelling serves as a mechanism for survival when written records are suppressed by the state.
- Published
- 1995
- Language
- EN
