Island Beneath the Sea

Tété describes her early days in New Orleans. Using food, she bribes Maurice’s tutor, himself an abolitionist refugee from Saint-Domingue, to allow Rosette to join their lessons. On Sundays, she attends religious dances, though these are hosted by Catholics, even as Voodoo begins to blend with Catholicism. Over time, she learns the local customs.

When Tété asks Valmorain about her freedom, he explains that enslaved people can only be emancipated at the age of 30, six more years in the future for her.

In 1795, Valmorain hosts a three-day festival, which is well attended. One of the guests is Hortense Guizot, a 29-year-old woman who remains unmarried after her fiancé died in a horse-riding accident five years earlier. On the third day, news arrives of a group of rebels protesting slavery. Valmorain and his guests spend the rest of the day on the lookout, prepared to defend the plantation, until a patrol arrives and tells them that the perpetrators have been stopped.

Sancho leads a frivolous and leisurely life, even dueling another man over the free woman of color they both love. He also receives news from Saint-Domingue, where the war drags on.

Rosette and Maurice, still children, remain close friends, though Tété attempts to cure them of the habits of hugging each other and sleeping in the same bed. Valmorain encourages Maurice, who still opposes slavery, to pursue traditional masculine ideals of toughness and strength.

Following Valmorain’s festival, Hortense Guizot and her family target Valmorain as a match for Hortense. Valmorain slowly warms to the idea, and Sancho guides him through the steps of courtship. Within a year, he and Hortense are married by Père Antoine, a highly respected Catholic priest. After a three-day honeymoon in Hortense’s parents’ home, as was the custom, Valmorain takes her to stay with him at the plantation for six months. This extended stay buys him time to decide what to do about Tété, whom he continued to sleep with up until his engagement, and Rosette.

Hortense takes an immediate dislike to Sancho and quickly establishes her authority over the household.

Tété remains in the townhouse with Rosette, while Maurice goes to the plantation with Valmorain and Hortense, whom he despises. Tété enjoys a period of relative freedom during Valmorain’s absence but worries about Rosette’s future. Someone recommends that she explain her worries to Père Antoine, and she does so. He listens to her kindly.

Valmorain is energized by his marriage to Hortense, who is soon pregnant, and they enjoy each other’s company. Nonetheless, Valmorain misses seeing Sancho as frequently as before. A hurricane leads to some flooding in the city, but the water recedes after Père Antoine leads a religious procession.

A few days before he is set to return to his house in the city, Sancho confronts Valmorain about Tété. Valmorain says that he intends to keep her as housekeeper. Meanwhile, as Toussaint initiates a transition to free labor in Saint-Domingue, Valmorain authorizes his agent to sell Saint-Lazare.

Nine-year-old Maurice begins to attend a boys’ school, while six-year-old Rosette receives her education at a convent, following Sancho’s suggestion.

Despite Valmorain’s fears, Hortense’s initial meeting with Tété passes without incident. Hortense feels that Tété is not a threat, though Hortense does reduce Tété’s sleep time each day. Hortense also suggests that they sell Rosette, but Valmorain refuses.

On Christmas Day, Hortense gives birth to a daughter, Marie-Hortense. After Marie-Hortense rejects three wet nurses in quick succession, Tété resolves the situation using a remedy she learned from Tante Rose. As a result, Hortense, who spends three months in bed after giving birth, assigns Tété to care for the baby.

When Valmorain and Hortense are invited to a prestigious ball, Hortense’s dress from Paris fails to fit her, as she continues to put on weight. Hortense takes out her anger on Tété, whipping her furiously. Maurice, now 11, suddenly appears, knocking Hortense to the ground and taking the whip. He whips his stepmother once on the throat before Tété stops him.

The next day, Hortense sends Tété to work on the plantation, which houses 200 enslaved people. Upon arriving, Tété helps Murphy’s wife, Leanne, who serves as midwife, with a difficult birth, employing a trick she learned from Tante Rose. Ignoring Hortense’s instruction to put Tété to work in the cane fields, Leanne puts her to work in the house. Leanne explains that she knows what it feels like to be enslaved, since she and her parents spent a decade as indentured servants. Following Leanne’s father’s death, Owen fell in love with Leanne and paid off her debts. Tété enjoys certain social aspects of her life on the plantation but still longs for freedom.

Maurice is sent to a boarding school in Boston.

A few years earlier, in Saint-Domingue, Gambo rises to become a trusted captain in Toussaint’s army and takes on the surname La Liberté. On one occasion in 1794, Dr. Parmentier treats Toussaint and Gambo, saving Toussain’s hand and Gambo’s life. To thank him, Gambo helps the doctor leave Saint-Domingue for Cuba. Gambo also asks him to tell Tété not to wait for him and that he has forgotten her. Arriving in Cuba, Dr. Parmentier has a joyful reunion with his family.

In Cuba, Dr. Parmentier opens a practice but maintains separate living quarters from Adéle and his children. He visits his family only at night, fearing that he would lose most of his white clients if they knew about Adèle.

He also reconnects with Violette, Jean-Martin, and Loula, who is now emancipated. Violette and Loula are in business together, selling beauty lotions as well as dresses made by Adèle, who is a seamstress. Violette nearly marries an elderly Galician gentleman, but his family intervenes to keep her from inheriting his money. When Jean-Martin turns 13, he goes to France to pursue his wish of joining the French army, where he is greeted by Relais’s brother.

After more than five years in Cuba, as conditions worsen, Dr. Parmentier decides to move to Louisiana. Adèle insists on accompanying him, and soon Violette and Loula agree to go as well. Arriving in New Orleans, they are greeted by Valmorain.

As before, Parmentier maintains separate living quarters from his family. Violette and Loula purchase a house and prepare to open a shop.

Despite the bruise on her neck, Hortense attends the ball. She is soon pregnant again and hopes for a son.

Maurice finds life in Boston miserable due to the climate and the oppressive school environment. His academic success earns him some respect from his peers. A teacher, Harrison Cobb, offers him literature to expand his abolitionist views and encourages him to pursue politics if he wants to make real change.

During the summers, Valmorain sends one of Hortense’s relatives to take Maurice on trips rather than inviting him back home.

Tété spends two years working on the plantation. When Hortense gives birth to another daughter, Marie-Louise, who has a tight chest, Valmorain follows Dr. Parmentier’s suggestion that he send for Tété to care for the baby.

Back in town, Tété visits Rosette, now 11, who is gracious but distant. Tété learns that Rosette and Maurice frequently write to each other, using coded religious language to share their feelings.

Tété visits Père Antoine and shows him the emancipation document signed by Valmorain. He questions her and learns that Dr. Parmentier saw the document and can testify of its existence seven years prior. She reluctantly leaves the document with Père Antoine, who invites Valmorain, Sancho, and Dr. Parmentier to meet with him and Tété on Sunday.

During their meeting, Père Antoine encourages Valmorain to make good on his promise to free Tété and Rosette. The priest cites the Code Noir’s stipulation that any enslaved person who saves the life of their enslaver has the immediate right to freedom. Valmorain is embarrassed but agrees under pressure to ratify Tété’s emancipation in court the next day. Back at home, Hortense and Valmorain berate Tété, but she is too happy to care.

The next day, Valmorain fulfills his promise. After 40 days, if no one raises legal objections, Tété’s emancipation will become permanent. Leaving the courthouse after the brief ceremony, Valmorain says that he forgives Tété for injuring him, though he fears she will not be able to succeed on her own.

For the next two weeks, Tété earns her way by helping Père Antoine make his daily visits to hospitals, orphanages, and more. One day, she runs into Sancho, who privately shares his distaste for slavery before offering to introduce Tété to a friend of his who may be able to employ her.

The next day, Sancho leads Tété to Violette and Loula’s home; Sancho is Violette’s first lover since the death of her husband. Violette and Loula don’t recognize Tété but are delighted when they realize who she is. They tell her that Honoré, the enslaved man who named her, joined the rebels despite his advanced age.

Tété moves in with Violette and Loula, assisting them in their work. A few days before the end of the 40-day period after which Tété’s emancipation will become permanent, she shares the news with Rosette. During the visit, Violette and Rosette take a liking to each other.

On the last day of the 40-day period, Tété returns to the courthouse, where the judge verifies her emancipation, as well as her legal ownership of Rosette. Besides Tété, only Père Antoine attends; she takes the priest’s last name, Sedella, as her legal surname.

Afterward, Tété cries with relief, then is surprised to see Zacharie. He explains that, after leaving Saint-Domingue, he eventually made his way to New Orleans. One day, he saw a notice with her name on it in the courthouse; he’s here now on the date specified.

Tété and Zacharie spend the evening together celebrating. Zacharie first takes her to a fancy theater and dance hall. Seeing her discomfort, he then takes her to Chez Fleur, a gambling house of which he is the co-owner, alongside his business partner, Fleur Hirondelle. Here, Tété is more comfortable.