It is 18th century Saint Domingue, and Tété never knew her parents. All she knows is that her mother was a slave, and that her white father’s identity will forever remain a mystery.
As a child she is sold to the plantation-owner Toulouse Valmorain, and finds herself subjected to his unwanted attentions. Still, in spite of everything, she finds community and comfort among the other slaves. And as a revolution gains momentum and opportunities surface, she can’t help but wonder: will freedom, one day, be in reach?
In colonial Chile, 1832, the infant Eliza is found on the doorstep of the British Import and Export Company. Adopted by the maternal Miss Rose, she is raised dutifully, with Victorian piety and propriety. But as a young woman, Eliza falls in love with the wildly inappropriate Joaquín Andieta – and when he leaves for the gold-laden hills of California, she can’t help but follow.
