FROM THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING WINNER OF THE PRIX SORCIÈRES

From Europe to Africa, to the Caribbean, Alma tells a gripping story of hope, perseverance, and love.

“Vivid and exact…this is a book about heroism.”—The New York Times 

1786. Alma lives with her family in an African valley, isolated from the rest of the world. Her days are spent exploring their blissful homeland; until her little brother finds the only way out. 

Meanwhile, in Lisbon, the petty thief Joseph Mars manages to get himself on board the Douce Amélie, a slave ship, to look for a fabulous treasure. The ship's captain, Lazare Gardel, is also hunting for treasure, that of the notorious pirate Luc de Lerne. Alma sets out on his trail, when she comes face to face with groups of Ashanti hunters, who capture and enslave everyone they meet. The journey to bring her brother home quickly becomes an intricate mission of self-preservation. 

While everyone is searching for something, Alma and Joseph's lives become intertwined on land and sea. In a whirlwind of adventures between Africa, Europe and the Caribbean, their quests and their destinies lead them irresistibly towards each other.

"“Vivid and exact…this is a book about heroism.”" - The New York Times

"An action-packed tale about heartbreak and resilience." - Publisher's Weekly

"The attention to period detail is not incidental, given the explosive nature of the subject matter: the African slave trade and the Middle Passage to the French colonies. To some extent, the routine features of the adventure are in tension with the particular sorrows of the kidnapped... De Fombelle recognizes many of these agonies, and his succinct and devastating explanations of the customs of the slave trade powerfully animate the facts." - The New York Times Book Review

"Breathtakingly readable." - Booklist (starred review)

"“Luminous . . . This uncompromising book sheds light on the violence in American society.”" - ActuaLitté