A Woman of Endurance
Puerto Rico, 1850. Pola is torn from her home on the west coast of Africa and sold into slavery. She works the sugar cane fields—just about the worst of the work a slave could be set to—and is used as a breeder, her babies torn away from her as soon as they’re born. She escapes and heads into the sea, planning to drown herself rather than continue such a life. But she’s pulled out of the water and taken to live on a different plantation, under far less appalling conditions. Although she now works in the sewing house rather than the cane fields, her life has turned her into ice inside, and she refuses to care about anyone or anything. Balancing Pola’s frozen emotions is Simon, warm-hearted and patient, who waits for years for Pola to see and believe in his love for her.
A saga of faith, survival, and love, Pola’s story is portrayed in engrossing, evocative writing that kept me up almost all night finishing the book. The descriptions are vivid and beautiful, and there’s a touch of magic realism that never affects the cold reality of Pola’s life.
But this is a very dark story, depicting Caribbean slavery in all its horror. Pola learns to endure and love, but the fact that some nice things happen on occasion doesn’t mitigate the harsh and precarious existence that slaves endured. Recommended, with the following caveat: this book contains rape, torture, and the loss of infants, all grimly and authentically portrayed.
