Once again a great book by Belva. I love that she mixes history in with the story. It makes the reader understand what it was like to live through some of history.As most of Belva's books, this one is a family tree of the Francois family, later known as Francis. It begins with Tee as a young girl on an island in the Caribbean known as St Felice. Tee isn't like the other kids her age. She doesn't understand the difference that everyone else see of black and whites. She befriends a black boy, and later he rapers her, resulting in a pregnancy when she is only 14. Her uncle sends her to Europe so her mother and sister won't find out about the pregnancy. Her servant, Agnus has never been able to have children, so she passes him off as her own naming him Patrick. Tee vows to never go back to St Felice, gets married and starts her own family. Try as she may, Tee ends up back in St Felice through her eldest son, Francis. It is quite the story of how Patrick finds his way back to the Francis family, without ever knowing that he is, in fact, part of it. Historically, the book begins with slave labor, and slavery in full swing. But, at the ending it is the 1970's. The Revolution is past and there is a growing fear of communism.
She was a girl as innocent and beautiful as her family's lush Caribbean plantation - until she learned about dark desire and became a woman. Banished from paradise, Teresa Francis was swept into marriage and motherhood in opulent New York - a world away from her beautiful St. Felice island. But eventually, the secrets that refused to stay buried would draw her back again to paradise. A paradise now in the throws of revolution, which forces Teresa to confront her past and watch her future unfold.I loved this book. I think that Belva Plain is perhaps one of my favorite authors. I particularly enjoyed how the characters interacted together and the writing was wonderful, in my opinion. If I had one dislike of this book, it was that it was slightly too long. I find that I can't really read long books anymore. Overall, though, I give this book an A+!
