This highly detailed story of many characters takes place in three different times and settings but all are connected by the African deity Lasirén aka as Ezili (Erzulie) who connects them all. Mer is a slave/healer in St. Domingue shortly before the time of the slave revolution ca. 1800. It is she who causes the rebirth of Lasirén. The story jumps to that of Jeanne Duval, a Haitian performer in Paris who is the mistress of poet Charles Baudelaire. Those two stories alternate until near the end when the third main character, Thais, a young prostitute in Alexandria, is introduced. She would later be revered as St. Mary of Egypt. The detail and plethora of characters make this novel intriguing on multiple levels.The audiobook is beautifully narrated by Bahni Turpin. Nalo Hopkinson has become one of my favorite authors.
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