Sunday, February 27, 2022

Palmares (Gayl Jones)

Gayl Jones
Palmares



A rambling though interesting, entertaining and thought provoking story of a young woman's life from being a slave girl in Brazil and her escape, or rather capture, to one of the escaped slave and others communities where she meets her husband. After the community is attacked by the Portuguese the story is her search for her husband. Along the way she meets many adventures and people and in some ways the book is a series of such that don't add to the overall plot but are interesting nonetheless. She also has powers of healing which are partly her knowledge of plants and partly a more mystical element. This is handed down by her grandmother and by a couple of people she meets along the way. It's not all straightforward though and one thing that shines through is her determination to take her own path. The story has rather an abrupt end which surprised me as there were a few pages left but left blank. I wonder if this was intentional? The author has had an interesting life worth a quick search too.

No comments: