"Allende is a master storyteller at the peak of her powers."
-- Los Angeles Times

From the sugar plantations of Saint-Domingue to the lavish parlors of New Orleans at the turn of the 19th century, the latest novel from New York Times bestselling author Isabel Allende (In s of My Soul, The House of the Spirits, Portrait in Sepia) tells the story of a mulatta woman, a slave and concubine, determined to take control of her own destiny.

Born a slave on the island of Saint-Domingue, Zarit --known as T t --is the daughter of an African mother she never knew and one of the white sailors who brought her into bondage. T t surivves a childhood of brutality and fear, finding solace in the traditional rhythms of African drums and in her exhilarating initiation into the mysteries of voodoo.

When twenty-year-old Toulouse Valmorain arrives on the island in 1770, he discovers that running his father's plantation, Saint Lazare, is neither glamorous nor easy. Marriage also proves problematic when, eight years later, he brings home a bride. But it is his teenaged slave T t who becomes Valmorain's most inportant confindant.

A heartwrenching and powerful story story of an extraordinary woman who forges her identity and finds love and freedom under the cruelest of circumstances. Isabelle Allende has done it again.

Author: Isabel Allende
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Harpervia
Published: 04/27/2010
Pages: 464
Weight: 1.42lbs
Size: 9.22h x 6.45w x 1.43d
ISBN: 9780061988240


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 01/15/2010 pg. 70
Booklist 03/01/2010 pg. 5
Kirkus Reviews 03/30/2010
Publishers Weekly 04/05/2010 pg. 43
Library Journal 04/15/2010 pg. 72
Kirkus Reviews 04/01/2010 pg. 275
New York Times Book Review 05/02/2010 pg. 26
Entertainment Weekly 05/07/2010 pg. 77
People Weekly 06/21/2010 pg. 63
BookPage 05/01/2010

About the Author
Allende, Isabel: -

Isabel Allende is the author of twelve works of fiction, including the New York Times bestsellers Maya's Notebook, Island Beneath the Sea, Inés of My Soul, Daughter of Fortune, and a novel that has become a world-renowned classic, The House of the Spirits. Born in Peru and raised in Chile, she lives in California.