In 1995, on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, an infant was found lying in garbage with her throat cut, a crime celebrated author Condé (Tree of Life
; Desirada
) takes as inspiration for her 12th novel. Like Rushdie and Grass, Condé sets her imaginatively dark epic against the backdrop of a larger conflict, here the clash between imperialist France and the co-opted African continent. Arriving penniless in the turbulent Ivory Coast in 1901, the enigmatic, bewitching Celanire (always wearing a scarf around her neck) embarks on a mission to discover the truth of her violent past. Spanning nine years, the novel follows Celanire as she travels from Africa to her native Guadeloupe and to Peru, where she will exact her final revenge, calling on demons and devils to destroy those who tried to make her a child sacrifice. Condé's prose deftly shifts between lushness and fierceness, but the vengeful Celanire can be unsympathetic. There is not enough insight into her quest—perpetrators are offered up rather than rooted out, making for a mysterious but sometimes lackluster revenge saga—and Celanire herself remains shadowy. While the plot might be a little slack, Condé does an excellent job of weaving together elements of myth, mysticism and history to create an intriguing and often macabre vision of passion and vengeance. Agent, Gloria Loomis.
(Aug.)
