In the aftermath of Haitis independence, the vengeful unborn spirit of a child named Etta draws her father from the Bight of Biafra onto a slave ship bound for the harshly colonized Caribbean island of Dominica in this lush historical novel infused with magical realism and rooted in West African mythology for readers of Ta-Nehisi CoatesThe Water DancerandRiver Sing Me Homeby Eleanor Shearer.

1794, Benin, Africa.Bako is one of 162 men stolen from their homeland. After a harrowing voyage across the sea, penned like livestock, and enduring brutal beatings, Bako survived when many of his fellow countrymen did not. On the Caribbean island of Dominica, he is sold to William Blackwell, sentenced to a life of forced servitude on a sugarcane plantation. Rechristened Ivan, his true identity and defiant nature cannot be tamed. When an indigenous Kalinago woman named Mary is threatened by Blackwells cruel son, Bako fights back, escaping with her into the mountainswhere she will give birth to their daughter.

Etta is anogbanje, an unborn soul, trapped in a cycle of conception and death in the wombs of one family. She is not of this Earth, existing among the stars, bearing the names of Queen Mother and Iyoba. A gifted siren, her voice unleashes ethereal songs that consume listeners with fear. Her desperate desire to live compelled Bako into the hands of his captorsand his fateful meeting with Mary. They are but vessels brought together to ensure Ettas birth into the mortal world.

But Etta bears the physical scars of her many spiritual deaths. The Kalinago do not accept her into their clan. Her father suspects the truth of his daughters origins. And the landowners and tradesmen who enslave Ettas people will feel her wrath as she compels rebellions, the one within, the gravest.

Robert de la Chevotiereis an Afro-Caribbean immigrant to Canada, who teaches French and English language arts. He is a member of the Writers Federation of Nova Scotia and has recently had a poem published inArc Poetry Magazines2021 fall issue.

• Publisher: Erewhon Books
• Publish Date: August 25, 2026
• Pages: 288
• Language: English
• Type: Hardcover
• EAN/UPC: 9781645662037
• Dimensions: 8.3 X 5.5 X 0.0 inches | 0.65 pounds
• BISAC Categories: Literary Fiction, Popular Fiction, Historical Fiction