When the Mapou Sings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Infused with magical realism, this story blends first love and political intrigue with a quest for justice and self-determination in 1930s Haiti. Sixteen-year-old Lucille hopes to one day open a school alongside her best friend where girls just like them can learn what it means to be Haitian: to learn from the mountains and the forests around them, to carve, to sew, to draw, and to sing the songs of the Mapou, the sacred trees that dot the island nation. But when her friend vanishes without a trace, a dream—a gift from the Mapou—tells Lucille to go to her village’s section chief, the local face of law, order, and corruption, which puts her life and her family’s at risk. Forced to flee her home, Lucille takes a servant post with a wealthy Haitian woman from society’s elite in Port-au-Prince. Despite a warning to avoid him, she falls in love with her employer’s son. But when their relationship is found out, she must leave again—this time banished to another city to work for a visiting American writer and academic conducting fieldwork in Haiti. While Lucille’s new employer studies vodou and works on the novel that will become Their Eyes Were Watching God, Lucille risks losing everything she cares about—and any chance of seeing her best friend again—as she fights to save their lives and secure her future in this novel in verse with the racing heart of a thriller.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Debut author Pinede's historical verse novel centers a 1930s Haiti filled with magic, cultural tradition, and danger. Inspired by the music of Haiti's tall mapou trees ("I hear a woman's voice singing"), 16-year-old Lucille and her best friend Fifina dream of opening a school where they can teach girls "the songs of the trees, flowers, birds, butterflies, the sun, moon, mountains, clouds." The author juxtaposes the grounding magic of nature with ongoing civil unrest throughout Haiti: after Fifina is taken by a section chief, an authority figure who often abuses their power, Lucille's beloved mapou also goes missing. When she discovers the tree at the section chief's home and is subsequently sentenced to exile, Lucille immerses herself in the world beyond her village, where she begins working for affluent Madame Ovides and falls for her son Oreste, a young burgeoning revolutionary. Historical figures such as Zora Neale Hurston, depicted in Pinede's vibrant text, become key players in Lucille's life. While the ending of this lengthy, densely packed tale feels abrupt, culturally rich descriptions and examinations of occupation and class division, as well as the perceived differences between spiritual and material wealth, make this a thought-provoking read. Ages 14–up.
