This story describes a journey from the rice fields of the Carolinas to the slave markets of New Orleans and into the fearsome heart of a Louisiana sugar plantation. Annis, sold south by the white enslaver who fathered her, is the reader’s guide. As she struggles through the miles-long march, Annis turns inward, seeking comfort from memories of her mother and stories of her African warrior grandmother. Throughout, she opens herself to a world beyond this world, one teeming with spirits:
- of earth and water,
- of myth and history,
- who nurture and give,
- who manipulate and take.
While Annis leads readers through the descent, hers is ultimately a story of rebirth and reclamation. This novel inscribes Black American grief and joy into the very land — the rich but unforgiving forests, swamps, and rivers of the American South.
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