A powerful, engrossing story of a biracial heiress who flees to Paris as the Haitian Revolution ignites on her island home. Sylvie de Rosiers, born to privilege as the daughter of a wealthy planter in 1791 Saint-Domingue, is also a reminder of her father's infidelity with an enslaved woman. When a violent slave uprising marks the beginning of the Haitian Revolution, Sylvie and her brother escape their past lives, only to find themselves in the midst of another upheaval in radical Paris. Enthralled by the Revolution's ideals and the revolutionaries, especially Maximilien Robespierre and his mistress, Cornélie Duplay, Sylvie navigates her complex identity. Robespierre, a rising leader and abolitionist, sees in Sylvie a living embodiment of his ideals, while Cornélie provides her with mentorship and a sense of belonging. As Sylvie grapples with her past complicity in a slave society and her future in this new world, she is torn between Robespierre's revolutionary fervor and Cornélie's affection. When the Reign of Terror looms, Sylvie faces a critical choice: to become an accomplice in the violence or risk everything, including her life, for a chance at true freedom.
