Isabel Allende's Latest Book

I finally read a book by Isabel Allende, Island Beneath the Sea.  It had marvelous reviews in all the sources I saw, so I thought I would give her a try.  The book was quite long and at times seemed to drag, but I would still recommend this story about Zarité, a slave woman on the island of Saint-Domingue.  Zarité is bought by a sugar cane plantation owner, Valmorain, to care for his house and family. 

The story follows Zarité as she becomes further intertwined in the lives of the Valmorain family.  Following the major slave rebellion on the island (and the subsequent renaming of the island to Haiti,) the family relocates to French owned New Orleans.  It is there that Zarité wins her freedom, but conditions continue to throw the fates of her family and the Valmorain's together. 

The conditions on the plantation are brutal and ugly; the mix of voodoo and Christian religion in the lives of the slaves fascinating.  Since I am not doing justice to the scope of this book, I can only ask you to please consider adding this book to your "to read" pile.