This is a moving story, set during the Haitian massacre of 1937, that follows the experiences of an orphaned serving girl. It's a vivid portrayal of the atrocities of war and the tearing apart of families and lovers. I found it a harrow and thought provoking read - but well worth the emotional investment.
His absence is my shadow; his breath my dreams. New dreams seem a waste, needless annoyances, too much to crowd into the tiny spaces that remains. Still I think I want to find new manners of filling up my head, new visions for an old life, waterless rivers to cross and real waterfall caves to slip into over a hundred times each day.
His name is Sebastien. Sometimes this is all I know. My back aches now in all those places that he claimed for himself, arches of bare skin that belonged to him, pockets where the flesh remains fragile, seared like unhealed burns where each fallen scab uncovers a deeper wound.
I wish at least that he was part of the air on this side of the river, a tiny morsel in the breeze that passes through my room in the night. I wish at least that some of the dust of his bones could trail me in the wind ....
