The Farming Of Bones

It is 1937, and Amabelle Desir is a young Haitian woman working as a maid for a wealthy family in the Dominican Republic, across the border from her homeland. The Republic, under the iron rule of the Generalissimo, treats the Haitians as second-class citizens, and although Amabelle feels a strong sense of loyalty to her employers, especially since her own parents drowned crossing the river from Haiti, racial tensions are heightened when Amabelle's boss accidentally kills a Haitian in a car accident. The accident is a catalyst for a systematic round-up of Haitians, ostensibly for repatriation but in fact a prelude to slaughter. Amabelle, caught up in the chaos and confusion, returns to Haiti after much hardship to make a new life, but is for years uncertain of the fate of her lover, Sebastian, and haunted by a nagging sense of guilt.

A powerful, fiercely economical and deceptively moving work, blending historical accuracy with lyrical brilliance.

“Extraordinary - TIME OUTDanticat delicately tiptoes through bougainvillaea and butterflies into minefields of rape, mayhem, insanity, suicide, terror. - Fay Weldon, MAIL ON SUNDAYA first novel of precocious maturity - INDEPENDENTA writer of great force with still more potential - INDEPENDENT”

Extraordinary - TIME OUT

Danticat delicately tiptoes through bougainvillaea and butterflies into minefields of rape, mayhem, insanity, suicide, terror. - Fay Weldon, MAIL ON SUNDAY

A first novel of precocious maturity - INDEPENDENT

A writer of great force with still more potential - INDEPENDENT

Edwidge Danticat is the author of a novel, BREATH, EYES, MEMORY, and a collection of interlinked stories, KRIK KRAK!, which was shortlisted for the National Book Award in the US. She was also one of GRANTA's Best Young American Novelists.

It is 1937, and Amabelle Desir is a young Haitian woman working as a maid for a wealthy family in the Dominican Republic, across the border from her homeland. The Republic, under the iron rule of the Generalissimo, treats the Haitians as second-class citizens, and although Amabelle feels a strong sense of loyalty to her employers, especially since her own parents drowned crossing the river from Haiti, racial tensions are heightened when Amabelle's boss accidentally kills a Haitian in a car accident. The accident is a catalyst for a systematic round-up of Haitians, ostensibly for repatriation but in fact a prelude to slaughter. Amabelle, caught up in the chaos and confusion, returns to Haiti after much hardship to make a new life, but is for years uncertain of the fate of her lover, Sebastian, and haunted by a nagging sense of guilt.A powerful, fiercely economical and deceptively moving work, blending historical accuracy with lyrical brilliance.

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