The Feast of All Saints

by Anne Rice

In the days before the Civil War, there lived in New Orleans the gens de couleur libre - copper-skinned half-castes, liberated by their owners, but confined by their color to a life of political nonexistence and social subordination. Still, an aristocracy would emerge in this society: artist, poets, and musicians, plantation owners, scientists and craftsmen whose talents and reputations would extend far beyond the limits of their small world.

Mega-selling author Anne Rice's probing, lyrical style sweeps us into their midst as she introduces Marcel, the sensitive, blue-eyed scholar, Marie, his breathtakingly beautiful sister, whose curse is to pass for white; Christophe, novelist and teacher, the idol of all young gens and stunning Anna Bella, whose allure for the well-to-do white man would become legend.

Here is a compelling and richly textured tale of a people forever caught in the shadows between black and white.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Horror, Fantasy, Historical, Paranormal, Vampires

570 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Anne Rice (born Howard Allen Frances O'Brien) was a best-selling American author of gothic, supernatural, historical, erotica, and later religious themed books. Best known for The Vampire Chronicles, her prevailing thematic focus is on love, death, immortality, existentialism, and the human condition. She was married to poet Stan Rice for 41 years until his death in 2002. Her books have sold nearly 100 million copies, making her one of the most widely read authors in modern history.

Anne Rice passed on December 11, 2021 due to complications from a stroke. She was eighty years old at the time of her death.

She uses the pseudonym Anne Rampling for adult-themed fiction (i.e., erotica) and A.N. Roquelaure for fiction featuring sexually explicit sado-masochism.

Reviews

[Aleeda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel so often gets overlooked; Anne Rice's mystical writings about vampires, mummies and witches easily overshadow it. Pity, because for my money, this is her BEST work. While researching Interview with a Vampire, she gathered enough information, for this, her second novel (as Anne Rice). The book blends a wonderful love of a beautiful city (New Orleans) with a genuine interest in African American culture. The gens de couleur libre, a society of free middle-class mixed-raced people, had codified rules which were obeyed and respected, for the most part, by the wealthy slaveholders, and their interracial families. They had balls in which the slaveholders pursuedtheir mistresses, and by Ms. Rice's accounts, established a second family in which the father paid for the support and education of his children. The gens de couleur has their own doctors, lawyers, and professionals of all kinds. The white and black societies had a separate but symbiotic class structure, with each knowing his role.This is an overlooked part of history and the story has been told in a sensitive, imaginative way by Ms. Rice. I loved the book so much, I sought out a hardcover copy for my library...Top 25!

[Ronnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love books that highlight African American history, and I was beside myself when i found this book one day in a bin at Goodwill. For .25 I got one of the best books I've ever read. Mrs. Rice weaves an excellent tale about the gen de libre coloure, a little known community of mixed races free people of color that populated Louisiana. I was completely draw into the world of Marcel St. Marie as he struggled with his identity on his road to becoming a man.

This was a great book.

[J. L. Pavich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Completely different than most Anne Rice novels, this one forgoes the supernatural entirely.

One of my favorite books, this novel is rich with history of pre-Civil War New Orleans and rural Louisiana. Characters are very compelling and Rice deftly explores the nearly mind boggling complexity of race and relationships in a city where degrees of black- or whiteness meant everything.

NOTE: The movie was flat and much oversimplified by comparison, not even worth watching.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third time I've read this novel. The first, at a tender age of 15, left me wrecked, changed, broken hearted and overwhelmed. I then spent a summer a couple years later reading it aloud to my aunt, who made fun of my French pronunciation as well as added sound effects when necessary (a specialty of hers, learned from many years of listening to me read to her). The second reading cemented my youthful longing for an intelligent man and a journey to the city of light. Now, more than two decades later, I've returned to The Feast of All Saints out of curiosity. Only the occasional drift beyond the border and into the purple land of too-flowery prose kept me from assigning 5 stars to this novel. Despite many (many!) other "preternatural" novels by Rice that I have loved or have at least enjoyed, this historical novel about a boy coming of age in a cruel, difficult way is by far my favorite. The drama is intense, of course--how could it not be, with a 14 year old narrator with passionate ideas about art and music and Paris? Someone cries on nearly every page. I should, of course, be an adult and turn my nose up at this. But I refuse. This novel made me realize at a young age that your dreams are not awarded to you, but that you must work to make them come true. It taught me that love is illusory and must be experienced, cherished in every form that it appears. It taught me not to believe in anything and to never stop believing in everything. This is a big, contradictory, romantic, preposterous and wonderful novel that I still love.

[VintageVamp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was my introduction to Anne Rice. My grandmother gave me a box of old paperbacks which included this gem. Since my other grandmother was Creole, I could relate to this story and fell in love with Rice as an author. I also fell in love with New Orleans and went on to follow the stories/histories of the first free people of color in America. Another piece of American history that should be taught.
Of course, I went on to read the Vampire Chronicles and the Mayfair Witches series. Both series hold a special place on my bookshelves and in my heart.
Ms. Rice's complex weaving of emotion, descriptive prose, and Catholisism in her works leaves readers with the feeling of just having had the best vacation to old New Orleans with the most wonderfully colorful of guides. Her characters are full and so humanly true.
We will miss you Anne Rice.

[Lois · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent book which gave much historical information about the Octroon balls and how placage worked with white slave/plantation oppressors and Free Black Women. It also focused on what life was like for the children born into that arrangement and what it was like for the free Black businesses existing in that era.
Very interesting historically.
***edited from 2008 review because dear gawds was I cringey.

[Kym Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fist clenching, hyperventilating, teeth grinding story that was an epic piece of work by Anne Rice. She is typically best known for her vampire-themed works but did an incredible job in her storytelling of the tragedies, false identities, and identity crisis affecting so many lives in Louisiana, with this fictional period piece. Yet, Rice included non-fictional events woven into this storyline to reveal those ugly and monstrous truths many tried to hide in the history of this country that could also be found in countries around the world.

A false sense of security, illusions of all the accoutrements of a family, but no family...illusions of all the accoutrements of a gentleman but not a gentleman...illusions of all the accoutrements of wealth but no wealth. Quadroons, some thought to be white still had the blood of color in them, were always reminded that they were going to always be people of color living in a white man's world.

Even those who were free people of color (gens de couleur libre) were still considered inferior to the white man. Injustice separated the prosperous gens de couleur (who struggled to be fully enfranchised) from their white fellowmen. They have been caught between the worlds of privilege and oppression, master and slave.

The rich and privileged have taken advantage of the weak and lowly, with their selfishness and explicit lusts, exploiting them in no uncertain terms, having their way when it is convenient. I'd hoped for a more happy ending for all of those who fell victim by default. Sadly, this was a harsh reality during this period piece of our time and country. I wish things ended better for Marcel, Marie, Richard, Christophe, and Anna Belle, but as tragic as the storyline went, I believe they survived from those tragic mistakes adults made and the consequences they had to deal with as a result of those salacious mistakes.

My hats off to Anne Rice for a story that was filled with a myriad of emotions (anger, surprises, intrigue, sadness, hope, happiness and survival). This is a recommended read!

[Kerry Dunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm giving this five stars (it was amazing) because that is how I felt about this book when I read it when I was fifteen. My dad bought this book for me on one of our Sunday bookstore browsing days and I picked it up only because I liked the cover. I had never heard of Anne Rice and didn't know anything about her Vampire Chronicles.

I was immediately sucked into this book by its historical context,intricate plot, kind of naughtiness, and very romantic New Orleans setting. I was devastated at the end because it really leaves you hanging. I've waited all these years for Anne to write a sequel and tell me what happened to Marcel. I doubt she ever will.

I'm curious if the five stars would hold up if I were to re-read this today. I might have to try that soon.

[Layton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel bad rating this but a one-star isn’t fair even though I DNF’d it. I like the story and the characters but it is too long and drawn out and I hate the edition I am reading. The text is soooo small. Maybe I will try this again another time.

[Jessica Thurlow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feast of all Saints: A Refreshing Fiction
I have been a fan of Anne Rice since I was twelve years old. I t was then that Lestat held me in his arms and whispered sweet nothings in my ear. And it is becuse of this experience that the name Rice has become synonymous with all things preternatural for me. Thus, I was shocked to find, when I began reading The Feast of all Saints that the novel contained no elements of the supernatural save for a few instances of spiritual awakening. I confess that I was a wee bit concerned that I wouldn’t like this more serious version of Ms. Rice. I was trepidatious – would this novel break my heart?

I’ve been reading it for ages. Not because it was hard to read but because I was worried I wouldn’t like it and I simply didn’t want to have to change my perception of the awe-inspiring Ms. Rice. Eventually, I summoned the strength and dove headlong into the creole world that lives within the pages of this book. Knowing virtually nothing about the gens de couleur libre, I made exciting and sometimes horrifying discoveries with every page.

This book is drastically different from The Vampire Chronicles - as it should be. Those books, along with a few others I’ve read by Rice, make comments on society and human nature often in a very subtle way. They gently whisper these ideas and the ideas become apparent after you’ve read them – they become intertwined and inseparable from the story and yet still vivid. With this book, Rice has taken a much more direct path. The ideas are very often literally, shouted at the reader by various characters. Revelations about racism and gender inequality are frequent and I found myself dog-earring many a page so that I might return to the passage to savour the intensity and eloquence of the words.

One particular outburst will stay with me for always. It doesn’t directly link to either racism or gender equality but touches a matter quite close to my heart – the importance of literature. When I first read this passage, I nearly shouted out loud: someone else was able to articulate just how I felt about the written word – the idea that it keeps the thoughts and ideas they embody alive forever, that books should be treated almost like living things. This is what Marcel had to say:

“My teacher, Monsieur De Latte … handles books as if they

were dead! …. My teacher believes in those books only

because they occupy space …. I want to know what’s inside

of them … what they actually mean. We forget all the time,

I think. that things are made, that this table was made by

someone for instance, with hammer and nails, and that

what’s in books was made by someone, someone flesh and

blood like ourselves wrote those lines, they were alive,

they might have gone this way or that with a

different word …. I think, Monsieur, people forget this …

I want to understand it, I want to … find some key (11).”

I’ve always found that the simple act of writing something down leaves part of you behind. As if the words imbibe part of your personality and if a reader really looks – a truth can be discovered. This was a profound moment in the text for me.

I think the other idea that I got from this book that was quite astonishing and startling was that some gens de couleur libre wanted to stay in North America, where the environment was not always in their favour and they did not have the same rights as their white counterparts. I guess, I had always thought – if there was an escape to a place where people would readily respect you, why not take it? But over and over it was reinforced that many of these people felt they had to stay for the future of their people. Who else was going to make the changes happen? This was startling because it was also such an obvious revelation. Of course they had to stay – if they hadn’t, where would we be now?

Social structure is hard to go against. Not just because others may oppose you and look down on you if you do, but also because some part of you must break and die before you are able. There was a profound sadness that surrounded each character in this book for this very reason. Cecile, Josette, Colette and Louisa because they didn’t let this happen; Anna Bella, Marie, Marcel, Christophe and Richard because they did. There are things to be admired from both perspectives and also much to be learned from all sides. I deeply appreciate, and am thankful for, the immense strength and many sacrifices of the gens de couleur.

There is so much more I could say about how this book affected me and changed me but I would need a vast space and eons of time to express those sentiments. Suffice to say that I finished this book on the third of April and it’s almost May third now. Normally, when I finish a book, the review is up the next day. This book had such a huge impact on me and my life that I had to take time to digest the ramifications before I was able to formulate the words. I believe this book should be used in high school classrooms to promote discussions about gender inequality and racism. I also believe that everybody, and I mean everybody, should read this book.

[Scott Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first reading of Anne Rice's second novel. In it, you can clearly see the beginnings of the writer she would become. Here we see the roots of her explorations of historical New Orleans and the multigenerational family storytelling that her Mayfair Witches series would make her famous for.

I love that in 1979, Rice included a gay character in a work of popular fiction without comment. This person is simply present and his romantic entanglements are described as benignly as any others. Rice's openness and honesty about sexuality would become another of her trademarks.

I'm only giving this book three out of five stars because it didn't capture my attention or imagination as much as other of Rice's works. I feel like the ingredients are all present but they haven't been mixed as successfully as she would manage with subsequent works.

[Carmela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably one of my three favorite books by Anne Rice. It is set in New Orleans and is about the life of one man and his three families. His white wife and children, his kept quadroon woman and their children, and his slave woman and their child. This book talks about the complexity of race relations in a very personal way and during a time period when people didn't talk about race at all, 1800s. It is not a ghoulish tale, like Rice is known for writing either. It is a period story about the children of this man and how each position in society played out more in their lives than who their father was in New Orleans. It is an incredible book in my opinion. And in case you are interested my two other favorite books by Anne Rice are The Vampire Lestat and Memnoch the Devil.

[Patrice Hoffman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was well written but I still found my self bored with it. I guess I should stick to my thrillers. There were moments when I wanted to throw it down and give up but then there were aspects of this book that had me intrigued. Because of this book I will postpone reading anymore anne rice books. I don't want to be bored out of my mind anymore. But still... She's a great writer.

[Ginger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is so much better than the vampire books, a complex and fully imagined life of a young free man of color in pre-Civil War New Orleans.

[Tara · Rating 1 out of 5]

I never finished this one. It never really went anywhere. I probably read half of it and decided to stop.

[Rowena · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book made me understand colourism in Black society a bit more. Very interesting book, though it took me about 200 pages to really get into it

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Almost went blind! I'm still crying though.

[Katrine Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in the early 90s without the lens of racial understanding I have today. Might be a re-read for me soon.

[Will Wilson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just a mess of a book. Like I said before this reads like a poorly structured soap opera. Save yourself the time and just skip it.

[dnovnodan feigh psycho dino uses thin watches · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

all of the incredible qualities of this book are blotted out by endless inner dialogue. i never felt truly connected with any of the characters despite the book being entirely character driven. Marcel, the centerpiece of the book felt more of a side character at times. for a book so long, there are moments where anne rice updates us on major plot points by being like “oh yeah this happened btw guys” even though she clearly has plenty of pages available to explain what happened.

anytime something interesting would happen and the book started to pick up pace, instead of riding the wave, anne rice would slam the brakes with exposition dumps or inner dialogue essays and eject us out of the windshield.

i felt like i didn’t gain anything out of the book. if anything i just lost months off of my life.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this novel a long, long time ago but it made enough of an impression on me that I am happy to add a review/thoughts about it all these years later. It is not the review I would have written thirty odd years ago, but some of my reservations date back to that time.

The novel is about the 'gens de couleur libre' the free people of colour, neither black nor white, and living in New Orleans in the 1840s when there were still slave markets and black slave servants and it was a theme that would be worked into her later Mayfair Witches novels when she would explore the 'gens de couleur libre' in Haiti and New Orleans/Louisiana. I would not dream of criticizing Ms. Rice's research but I do have reservations about the conclusions she draws from it and the world she presents in her this novel.

But then that is the problem, it is a novel not a history book. In an afterwards she describes what is based solidly on fact and what is based on guesswork or is entirely invention. My problem with this novel is the same as with her vampire novels, she loses sight of the dirty reality behind the very limited independence, tolerance and rights that the 'gens de couleur libre' had to negotiate an existence. What happens to the boy Marcel at the end of the novel should have set the tone for the novel as a whole. It is brutal but this was a brutal time, this was a slave society and economics were at its heart. You either owned property or you were a parasite living off those who did. The gens de couleur libre, even if they owned land and slaves, were not accepted by the dominant white planter/merchant oligarchy. There had been Indian plantation and slave owners, even Indian senators in Washington and they were 'disappeared' so those gens de couleur who had anything were, like house slaves, doing everything possible not to be treated like field slaves, which meant rearing up their daughters as an early 'Maiden Tribute to Modern Babylon'.

Before anyone imagines that I am criticizing the world of the gens de couleur libre I am not. I am unhappy with Anne Rice's portrayal of this world because she smooths out the harsh, dirty, complex reality with a way to sanitized picture, not quite moonlight and magnolias, but to close comfort. It is rather like her vampire stories which ignore that they are monsters feeding on the weak. That the plantation owner who is the fountain of Marcel's family comfort is actually nothing more then a penniless upstart despoiling his wife's estate to keep his second family in luxury only avoids confronting the ugly realities of this ersatz society.

I've given the novel two stars because Anne Rice can write but it is ultimately more fairy tale than history. There is probably a great novel in this period and the gens de couleur libre but this isn't it.

[Ronique · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know that before I discovered this title, I had already watched Interview with a Vampire (to be reviewed later, btw because Lestat. Yes) and had yet to pick up and read anything by Anne Rice. To be honest, I only noticed this title because of the mini-series on Showtime. I was like, 20 when it debuted and I knew very little to nothing about the gen de couleur libre (I almost typed that without looking it up, four years of French, ftw) and it seemed interesting. It was an entire series about people of color who were not enslaved during a time in American history were the majority of anyone who was not white, were bound by someone who was. I was definitely intrigued.

After watching the series, which played out like a dramatic soap opera, I had to find and read the book. It took forever for me to get around to it and the only regret that I had about it was that I hadn't read it sooner.

Of course this title doesn't read like an actual historical account on any particular person or family during the time of the gens de couleur, but as a fictional tale about the general plight of these people during pre-Civil War America. They were free but still contained. Marcel, the novel's main protagonist, has to learn this. He has to learn that yes he was raised as the head of his household, being the only male aside from his White-Plantation-Owning father, that did not allow him the same rights and status as a traditional heir has. Marcel grows up believing the world is his and he can have what he wants but, when his father dies and even a bit before then, he is thrown into the cruel and harsh reality of that era.

There are other elements to this story. Everyone has a backstory, which is something I love in any novel. The city of New Orleans (because uhm, Anne Rice, hello) has a story within this backdrop as well.

Full review/More reviews can be found on my blog at: www.ihatecatsbr.com

[Alethea · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Feast of All Saints is one of the most beautifully written books I have read. The story focuses on the lives of the gens de colour, free people of color in antebellum New Orleans, who created a rich and highly cultured society in the midst of prejudice and the world of slavery. Purely historical fiction, and at times skirting the genre of Southern Gothic, it focuses on young Marcel, the blue-eyed mulatto son of a plantation owner who keeps Marcel's mother and his family in luxury in New Orleans, far from his other family. Marcel excels as a student and has been promised life in Paris to continue his studies when he comes of age. Marcel hangs all his hopes upon this dream. His beautiful sister Marie, who could pass as white, loves Richard, a young black man whose family are undertakers, but the culture disdains young girls such as she to marry black men. Families spent a great deal of energy to have their daughters to become mistresses to white men, as Marie and Marcel's mother have done. (This did occur, but from what I read about the subject many of these girls actually settled down as married women within the gens de colour society.) The novel is a slow read, but the details which Anne Rice weaves into the setting creates a world where I felt I had time travelled each evening as I read the book. Marcel's dreams, of course, are dashed, but the novel highlights his search for the true work he is to do as an artist, and so the ending is a triumph.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book when it first came out decades ago, but I couldn't remember a thing about it! When I found it in a New Orleans gift shop, I grabbed a copy to re-read.

The book focuses on four free people of color (many people think there were no free blacks in the antebellum south, but New Orleans had a thriving culture of gens de coleur libres). Marcel and his sister Marie are the sons of an aristocratic white planter by his mistress -- and Marie is fair enough to pass as white. Christophe is a sophisticated teacher, just returned from Europe. Richard is the son of a well-to-do family. Peripheral to their stories are parents, cousins, aunts and friends.

Through their eyes we see the struggles of women during a time in which they were considered just as much property as a chair -- free or not. Attractive free women of color were encouraged to take white protectors rather than marry a man of color -- which is a problem for Marie and Richard, who are in love. Much of the well-being of the children of plaçees depended on the generosity of the protector -- which becomes a problem for Marcel when his father dies and leave the family nothing but a share of his debt and many broken promises.

Rice's prose is rich and the story is chock-full of historical details that bring us in the world of 1840s New Orleans. I highly recommend this book.

[Keri · Rating 5 out of 5]

as of 6/3/08, this is the most beautiful book I've read! It's Anne Rice so very yummy details. All in all a coming of age story for a "free people of color" family in pre-Civil war era. Time piece is great, the adventure and romance of early Louisiana is so intoxicating. Anne seems to have done a fair amount of research on this book (plus she's lived in New Orleans for quite a while) - according to the brief tours I engaged in while in NOLA, many details match up. Some names and dates are different, but it has to be right? I toured NOLA after this book and everything just fell into place - I walked the streets of NOLA just as Marcel and Marie. Each character becomes fully developed, playing intricate roles throughout, but not too hard to follow or throwing the plot off balance. I'm not Anne Rice so I can't put my feelings about this book into words - just read it and fall in love like I have. Ps. this is not a Vampire novel - do not expect long fangs. Also, there is a relationship of varied age-differences that develops which the reader must be forewarned (but this IS Anne Rice).

[Alexander Santiago · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful and lush novel set in a very unique community in America in antebellum New Orleans - the gens de couleur libre, the mixed race Creoles of color. The novel, though with many characters who play very important roles in the story, concentrates on the St. Marie family: Cecile St. Marie, the haughty matriarch of dark skin and fine european features who was rescued as a little girl from St. Domingue during the revolt; her daughter, Marie, blessed/cursed with the ability to pass for white, hated and envied by her mother for that ability, and aiming to set her on the path to debut at the city's infamous "quadroon ball"; and Marcel, the honey color complexioned, blue-eyed precocious protagonist who learns very difficult lessons about life while growing into adulthood. Mesmerizing, enchanting, melancholic, overall, a beautiful novel!

[Robin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave up. I mean just flat gave up. didn't care about the characters, didn't care about New Orleans.

Just finally admitted that I really don't understand why Anne Rice novels sell. I know: as a woman in the 20th (21st now, but believe me, I jumped off this boat years ago) that I should be all about Anne Rice. But I'm not. I don't get her, and suddenly I find myself very very wary of people who profess to be huge Anne Rice fans. Nothing against the woman, I mean, I read the Mayfair Witch stories, but I think the spark has gone. I read this and Pandora, and frankly sort of wished I hadn't bothered, b/c those are a lot of pages that I'll never, never get back. Her character development skills seem to have taken a nosedive.

Read Charlaine Harris instead. At least Sookie Stackhouse is funny, even if Bill is a bit of a stick.

[Juan Carlos Núñez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anne Rice muestra su maestría en la narración y construcción de mundos de ficción cuya base es la realidad.
Es una novela, que sí soy honesto, dejé muchos años esperando el momento para leerla, puesto que no sabía bien hacia dónde iba y si sería mi tipo de lectura. Sin embargo, la sorpresa fue grata al encontrar en sus páginas una historia sobre crecer, sobre la tragedia, sobre el amor, sobre la fé, sobre la libertad y espejo de lo crueldad que hay en el ser humano. Una historia ágil, con personajes entrañables y una recta final que no hace sino emocionar. Vale mucho la pena.
Anne Rice fue una gran contadora de historias y más allá de lo que aportó a la literatura gótica con sus Crónicas Vampíricas, hay mucho más para deleitar a sus lectores y si no, para conseguir nuevos. Estoy seguro que nadie quedará indiferente de esta historia.

[Reesha · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars. A fantastically written book, rich with characters, emotion, and plot in a sumptuous setting.

It took me quite some time to get into the book, because there are so many characters who interrelate in so many different ways that I found myself making lists and notes to keep them all straight.

But it was worth the work. Once the story really got rolling, it was hard to walk away, and every time I came back, I was sucked right back into things in just a few sentences.

I don't like historical fiction, never have. But I've always wanted to read the rest of Anne Rice's work, having only read 5 or so of The Vampire Chronicles, and I'm very glad I pushed myself through the start of this one. It's definitely worth the time.

[Issie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely this is Anne's forgotten masterpiece about self awareness and self discovery.
Read it for the first time over more than ten years ago and all I could remember is it was about and a brother and sister and that it made me cry.
Yes, it did made me cry again but this time I comprehended all the depth and society analysis within it following the life of the main character in some key years in his life.
Free colored population of New Orleans in the early 1800, what an amazing trip around society rules, racism, fear and contempt. And the scariest thing it doesn't feels so far from latin american reality in the 1990s or even now...