{"product_id":"the-belle-crole-9780813944227","title":"The Belle Créole","description":"\u003cp\u003ePossessing one of the most vital voices in international letters, Maryse Cond  added to an already acclaimed career the New Academy Prize in Literature in 2018. The twelfth novel by this celebrated author revolves around an enigmatic crime and the young man at its center. Dieudonn  Sabrina, a gardener, aged twenty-two and black, is accused of murdering his employer--and lover--Loraine, a wealthy white woman descended from plantation owners. His only refuge is a sailboat, \u003ci\u003eLa Belle Cr ole, \u003c\/i\u003e a relic of times gone by. Cond  follows Dieudonn 's desperate wanderings through the city of Port-Mahault the night of his acquittal, the narrative unfolding through a series of multivoiced flashbacks set against a forbidding backdrop of social disintegration and tumultuous labor strikes in turn-of-the-twenty-first-century Guadeloupe. Twenty-four hours later, Dieudonn 's fate becomes suggestively intertwined with that of the French island itself, though the future of both remains uncertain in the end.\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eEchoes of Faulkner and Lawrence, and even Shakespeare's \u003ci\u003eOthello, \u003c\/i\u003e resonate in this tale, yet the drama's uniquely modern dynamics set it apart from any model in its exploration of love and hate, politics and stereotype, and the attempt to find connections with others across barriers. Through her vividly and intimately drawn characters, Cond  paints a rich portrait of a contemporary society grappling with the heritage of slavery, racism, and colonization.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Virginia Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/28\/2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780813944227\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 212\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.60lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.50h x 5.51w x 0.48d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 02\/10\/2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/01\/2020 pg. 88\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Maryse Cond\u0026#233;","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":37876474609845,"sku":"9780813944227","price":18.66,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_12b5e491-24a7-442d-9ec9-f2c64282b2c5.jpg?v=1607564176","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-belle-crole-9780813944227","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}