WHEN THE MAPOU SINGS
Infused with magical realism, this story blends first love and political intrigue with a quest for justice and self-determination in 1930s Haiti.
Sixteen-year-old Lucille hopes to one day open a school alongside her best friend where girls just like them can learn what it means to be Haitian: to learn from the mountains and the forests around them, to carve, to sew, to draw, and to sing the songs of the Mapou, the sacred trees that dot the island nation. But when her friend vanishes without a trace, a dream–a gift from the Mapou–tells Lucille to go to her village’s section chief,
Infused with magical realism, this story blends first love and political intrigue with a quest for justice and self-determination in 1930s Haiti.
Sixteen-year-old Lucille hopes to one day open a school alongside her best friend where girls just like them can learn what it means to be Haitian: to learn from the mountains and the forests around them, to carve, to sew, to draw, and to sing the songs of the Mapou, the sacred trees that dot the island nation. But when her friend vanishes without a trace, a dream–a gift from the Mapou–tells Lucille to go to her village’s section chief, the local face of law, order, and corruption, which puts her life and her family’s at risk.
Forced to flee her home, Lucille takes a servant post with a wealthy Haitian woman from society’s elite in Port-au-Prince. Despite a warning to avoid him, she falls in love with her employer’s son. But when their relationship is found out, she must leave again–this time banished to another city to work for a visiting American writer and academic conducting fieldwork in Haiti. While Lucille’s new employer studies vodou and works on the novel that will become Their Eyes Were Watching God, Lucille risks losing everything she cares about–and any chance of seeing her best friend again–as she fights to save their lives and secure her future in this novel in verse with the racing heart of a thriller.
- Candlewick Press
- Hardcover
- December 2024
- 432 Pages
- 9781536235661
Buy the Book
$19.99
About Nadine Pinede
Nadine Pinede is the daughter of Haitian exiles from the Duvalier dictatorship. She created her own interdisciplinary major at Harvard and then continued on to Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship. She also has an MFA in fiction and poetry and holds a PhD from Indiana University.
Praise
“Written in stunning verse, When the Mapou Sings–with its original premise, vivid setting, and compelling characters–will carve a permanent place in your heart.” —Cordelia Jensen, author of Skyscraping
“Lucille both flees home and searches for it, guided by mapou trees, butterflies, birds, and her own carvings of them, as if singing back their songs. Through lyrical language and sometimes harrowing scenes, I met complicated characters who introduced me to some of Haiti’s history and expanded my sense of the world.“ —Jeannine Atkins, author of Finding Wonders: Three Girls Who Changed Science
“Set against the backdrop of Haiti in the 1930s, When the Mapou Sings transports readers to the heart and mind of sixteen-year-old Lucille, forced to work in exile, away from her family, after standing up to oppressive local authorities. On a quest to reunite with her best friend, Lucille is derailed by her circumstances again and again but refuses to give up. Through incredibly rich historical details, Lucille’s story springs to life in gorgeous poetry that sings. Truly a book to savor.” —Kip Wilson, author of White Rose and The Most Dazzling Girl in Berlin