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A haunting, beautifully written novel set in early-nineteenth-century Louisiana: the tale of a slave girl's journey--emotional and physical--from captivity to freedom.
Pantheon
March 2006
352 pages
ISBN: 0375423648
Hardcover
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Contemporary | Fiction
Susan Straight has been called "a writer of exceptional
gifts and grace" (Joyce Carol Oates). In A MILLION
NIGHTINGALES she brings those gifts to bear on the story of
Moinette, daughter of an African mother and a white father
she never knew. While her mother cares for the plantation
linens, Moinette tends to the master's daughter, which
allows her to eavesdrop on lessons. She also learns that she
is property, and at fourteen she is sold, separated from her
mother without a chance to say goodbye. Heartbroken and
terrified, and with a full understanding of what she will
risk, Moinette begins almost immediately to prepare herself
for the moment when she will escape. It is Moinette's own voice that we hear--bright, rhythmic,
observant, and altogether captivating--as she describes her
journey through a world of brutality, sexual violence, and
loss. Quick to see the patterns of French, American, and
African life play out around her, Moinette makes her way
from sugarcane fields through mysterious bayous to the
streets of Opelousas, where the true meaning of freedom
emerges from the bonds of love. An uncommonly rich novel, brimming with event and character,
A MILLION NIGHTINGALES is a powerful confirmation of the
remarkable novelist we have in Susan Straight.
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