A woman of endurance : a novel / Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Llanos-Figueroa, Dahlma, author.

Contributor:

Rosengarten Family Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Plantation life--Puerto Rico--Fiction.

Plantation life.

Enslaved women--Fiction.

Enslaved women.

Psychic trauma--Fiction.

Psychic trauma.

Female friendship--Fiction.

Female friendship.

Puerto Rico.

Genre:

Novels.

Fiction.

Historical fiction.

Physical Description:

x, 341 pages ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2022]

Summary:

"A groundbreaking historical novel from a heralded author that explores the seldom discussed Puerto Rican Atlantic Slave Trade. At a time when importing humans from Africa had been prohibited by the Spanish Crown, Pola and other slave women provide their master with babies who are immediately taken away and sold on the auction block. Her serial rapes by a number of men are routine and often provided entertainment for the master and his friends. Understandably she grows into an angry, distrustful and combative woman who lives life in survival mode at all times. After repeated attempts at escape and having been beaten almost to death, she is sent to a new plantation owner as payment of a gambling debt. Pola's life in the second plantation is much more bearable than her past experience. In this new hacienda, she is taken in by a supportive group of other enslaved black women. Within the confines of this enslaved community, she encounters a wide variety of people and situations that are new to her. Cautious and still hostile, she begins to find her way this new environment and the people in it, leading to conflicting feelings and much soul-searching. Among the people she meets is a Chachita, a young woman who becomes a surrogate daughter to her, and Simón, a man who, amazingly, takes nothing from her and offers her a hand in friendship. Her physical and emotional wounds begin to heal as she finds more freedom of movement and emotional support than she has known since captivity. Ultimately, she begins to reconcile her brutal past with a more nurturing present in which she allows herself to trust and love again"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Losing Yemayá

A new world

In Simón's eyes, I

The hands of men

Hacienda las Mercedes

In Simón's eyes, II

The world of women

Beyond Las Agujas

Back to the fields

In Simón's mind, I

The healing tree

Then hands of women

In Simón's mind, II

The faces of love

Tiempo muerto

When the rains come

Holes

Finding Chachita

Discoveries

In Simón's heart, I

Gains

Losses

Revelations

In Simón's heart, II

New pathways

Celebration.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rosengarten Family Fund.

Other Format:

Online version: Llanos-Figueroa, Dahlma. Woman of endurance.

ISBN:

9780063062221

0063062224

9780063062238

0063062232

OCLC:

1245960898