"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. 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. Cautious and still hostile, she begins to find her way in this new environment and the people in it, leading to conflicting feelings and much soul-searching. 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.
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