Island Beneath the Sea

 Fiction by Isobel Allende

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

The island of Haiti was once called Saint-Domingue and was a colony owned by the French. In the late eighteenth century there was a bloody slave revolt, a result of the constant oppression that sugar production engendered.

The story follows one slave woman and her life, first on the island and then in New Orleans after her master’s family flees the island and ends up there.

This novel, translated from Spanish, was tough for me to read. I think it was just the heaviness of the subject matter. I’d say it was a really well written story but I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it. 

I also read by this author: The Japanese Lover