Set in the ante-bellum South during a slave rebellion, the book is about
two women. Manon Gaudet is a pretty, bored woman raised in the sparkle of
New Orleans society. Her new husband is a dull sugar planter, and her new
home is far from society. Sarah is Manon's slave and her husband's
mistress by whom he has fathered two children. The book is told from
Manon's perspective, and it's a fascinating portrait of how slavery shapes
the internal life of the slave owner. The plot is almost entirely
predictable, but it allows for Manon's observations about her world. It's
very good, but the cliched ending was painful and drawn out.

While I enjoyed the book, I couldn't help thinking that I really didn't
care that much about how slavery affected the lives of slave owners. Of
course it did. But set next to the reality of what it did to the slaves, I
didn't care. When Sarah is deprived of her right to self, Manon's
captivity in the higher echelons of society didn't move me very much. As a
result, I felt like I missed a great deal of what the book intended.