Mamzelle Dragonfly — Raphael Confiant

A nostalgic and erotic story that is also a deeply sophisticated look at modern Martinique

A tree cannot keep secrets because its roots discreetly meet those of other trees and share its thoughts. Adelise, a young girl trapped working in the cane fields of Martinique, keeps confidence with the flowering mangrove in her backyard. Her strict and watchful mother says Adelise is a dragonfly, refusing to learn that life is not a game.

When she is transplanted to the dangerous and politically restive capital, Fort-de-France, her aunt introduces her to the unsavory business of nightlife among the Mulatto elite, and Adelise comes to rely even more on her elaborate system of wistful detachment from her body.

Raphaël Confiant's spare style is reminiscent of Christina Garcia's, and the ambivalent sensuality and fierce independence of his Caribbean heroine recall Edwidge Danticat's heroines. Mamzelle Dragonfly is that rare thing: a politically savvy novel that is also intimately affecting.