Mamzelle Dragonfly

Trapped in the cane fields of Martinique, Adelise, delicate and flighty as a dragonfly, has found a way to keep her hard life separate from her secret soul. But when she is forced to move from her village to Fort-de-France, the island's unruly capital, and her aunt introduces her to the unsavory business of nightlife among the mulatto elite, Adelise must draw on ever more tenuous resources to remain free. Set against the politically charged backdrop of mid-twentieth-century Martinique, the story of this unlikely heroine's struggle unfolds in a language at once precise and enchanting, bringing to life both the inevitable harshness of life on Martinique and its inescapably lush beauty.

Le Monde

Raphael Confiant's spare style is reminiscent of Christina Garcia's, and the ambivalent sensuality and fierce independence of his Caribbean heroine recall Edwidge Danticat's heroines. Mamzelle Dragonfly is that rare thing: a politically savvy novel that is also intimately affecting.

Perhaps best known to American readers as a founder, with Patrick Chamoiseau, of the Creolité movement, Raphaël Confiant is the author of several award-winning novels in his native Martinique. Mamzelle Dragonfly is his first novel to be translated into English. Linda Coverdale's many translations include Patrick Chamoiseau's School Days and Chronicle of the Seven Sorrows, both available from the University of Nebraska Press.