Palmyra

I used to think the past was dead and gone, that the passage of time erased memories...An unexpected visitor triggers buried memories of the mysterious deaths that plagued a family on the island of Trinidad at the turn of the 20th century. The "Great House," now a near-ruin, was eighty years earlier the center of a prosperous French Creole cocoa estate, where Joe, the housekeeper's son, bore witness to half-understood incidents and undercurrents in the lives of its residents. His reawakened memories begin with a handsome young stranger's arrival on the property-a catalyst which sets off a train of events in the lives of the two heiresses, with consequences that stretch into the present day.Rich in historical and geographical detail, Palmyra chronicles a time when the privilege of white plantocracy was being eroded by an educated elite that rose from the ashes of slavery and indentureship to claim their place in creating an independent nation. A part coming-of-age story, part Gothic mystery, Palmyra conjures a world teaming with divided loyalties, family secrets, and ambition.