[Vieux 01] • Dance on the Volcano

Set in late-18th century Haiti, Dance on the Volcano follows the exceptional career of Minette, a young mixed-race girl who uses her prodigious voice to cross racial barriers. Her talent brings her an opportunity to perform at the Theater of Port-au-Prince, an honor previously reserved only for whites. However, once the curtain falls she finds herself back to life as normal. Praised but unpaid, applauded but shut out, Minette develops a political and racial conscience that will not rest as long as slavery still exists on the island. She eventually finds herself at the center of a revolution, butting heads with the man she loves, a free black man who is as cruel to his slaves as many white landholders. Through her involvement, Minette crosses paths with the future heroes of the revolution until she experiences a final act of treachery.

Born in Port-au-Prince in 1916, Marie Vieux-Chauvet is widely considered one of the greatest writers of the francophone Caribbean. Dance on the Volcano will be the second of her works to be published in English.