by Isabel Allende
Harper Perennial
978-0-06-198825
$14.99 US
480 pp., April 26, 2011, reprint edition
Publisher Synopsis-Harper Perennial
Born a slave on the island of Saint-Domingue—the daughter of an African mother she never knew and a white sailor who brought her into bondage—ZaritÉ, known as TÉtÉ, survives 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 is neither glamorous nor easy. Marriage also proves problematic when, eight years later, he brings home a bride. But it is his teenaged slave, TÉtÉ, upon whom Valmorain becomes most dependent, as their lives intertwine across four tumultuous decades.
In Island Beneath the Sea, internationally acclaimed author Isabel Allende spins the unforgettable saga of an extraordinary woman determined to find love amid loss and forge her own identity under the cruelest of circumstances.
My Review
Allende is brutally honest in this shocking story of bondage and freedom set on the island of Saint Domingue and New Orleans. Wrapped among the lives of objectified women who possess amazing strength and sharp survival instincts is a tangled complicated web where social and racial heritage is a blur. Lineage and social standing are paramount for social dominance, yet the unspeakable truth provides an alluring story of high drama. Laws of equality are understood, established by society from centuries of slavery. Prejudice deeply ingrained, provides a lifestyle, that imprinted from birth establishes standards and rules handed down over generations.
Passionately told this novel has multi-layers that will entice and engage the reader. Allende's vibrant soulful characters both vile and dear are memorable. Allende has always been one of my favorite authors and Island Beneath the Sea is a majestic and timeless story that is by far her greatest achievement.-
by Isabel Allende.......
http://www.isabelallende.com/
© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2008-2011].
© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2008-2011].
