'A vision of female solidarity which transcends place and time' Sunday Times: Edwidge Danticat's groundbreaking debut.

At the age of twelve, Sophie Caco is sent from her impoverished Haitian village to New York to be reunited with a mother she barely remembers. There she discovers secrets that no child shouldever know, and a legacy of shame that can be healed only when she returns to Haiti - to the women who first reared her. What ensues is a passionate journey through a landscape charged with the supernatural and scarred by political violence.

In her stunning literary debut, Danticat evokes the wonder, terror, and heartache of her native Haiti - and the enduring strength of Haiti's women - with vibrant imagery and narrative grace that bear witness to her people's suffering and courage.