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Informationen zum Autor Zoe Sivak advocates for diverse stories and characters in historical fiction. In her writing, she strives to explore famous male figures through the lenses of the women beside them—women who could have existed, even if history left them behind. When not engrossed in historical research, Zoe is pursuing both her Juris Doctor and a master of public health in Philadelphia. Klappentext "A powerful, engrossing story of a biracial heiress who flees to Paris when the Haitian Revolution burns across her island home. But as she works her way into the inner circle of Robespierre and his mistress, she learns that not even oceans can stop the flames of revolution. Sylvie de Rosiers, the biracial daughter of a rich planter in 1791 Saint-Domingue, is both a lady born to privilege and a damning reminder of her father's infidelity with an enslaved woman. After a violent slave uprising begins the Haitian Revolution, Sylvie and her brother leave their parents and old lives behind to flee unwittingly into another uprising--austere and radical Paris. Sylvie quickly becomes enamored with the aims of the Revolution, as well as with the revolutionaries themselves--most notably Maximilien Robespierre and his mistress, Cornâelie Duplay. As a rising leader and abolitionist, Robespierre sees an opportunity to exploit Sylvie's race and abandonment of her aristocratic roots as an example of his ideals, while the strong-willed Cornâelie offers Sylvie guidance in free thought and a safe harbor. Sylvie battles with her past complicity in a slave society and her future within this new world order as she finds herself increasingly tugged between Robespierre's ideology and Cornâelie's love. When the Reign of Terror descends, she must decide whether to become an accomplice while another kingdom rises on the bones of innocents... or risk losing her head"-- Leseprobe Chapter One If we fall asleep for an instant on the edge of the abyss, we will tremble upon awakening! . . . France will receive a mortal wound, and a multitude of honest citizens will be impoverished and ruined; we will lose everything. -Vincent OgŽ, Address on the Abolition of Slavery janvier 1791 By the age of eighteen, Sylvie de Rosiers had mastered fractions. She lounged on the sofa, feet neatly tucked beneath her, maintaining a primness even en repos. Her gown encircled her in a pool of white muslin; the chemise ˆ la reine had come into fashion a few years prior, but its airiness made it ubiquitous among the wealthy women's wardrobes on Saint-Domingue. And the thin fabric showed off her legs to their ultimate advantage. But the new house slave disrupted the pleasantness of her morning. She knew the girl was a recent addition to the household staff because Sylvie noticed all fractions, and this servant presented a challenge. On the French colony of Saint-Domingue, fractions were not innocuous numbers separated by a line of dark ink (though she knew those, too). Here, fractions had faces. Mulatto, quadroon, octoroon-these terms divided the blood into halves and quarters and eighths, Black and white and whiter still. Sylvie regarded the newcomer from under her thick fan of lashes. The girl was pretty enough, as many house slaves were, though clearly inexperienced at household tasks. House slaves, as a rule, needed to be attractive; no wealthy family wanted an ugly girl serving tea. Most often, Creoles, those who survived on the island long enough to know the language of the colonists, worked in the house. Bossales, African-born slaves, worked fields. Her father's wife, Madame Catherine de Rosiers, chose maids like she chose rugs: pretty ornaments that served a purpose, but that mustn't distract. Too thin to be truly beautiful, this girl could not match Sylvie's loveliness.
