This was an interesting book. I'm still a bit confused about my feelings towards it. I loved the way Ms. Woods brought the history of slavery, Haiti, and the dangers of running away to life. I felt connections with some of the characters, but not all of them. The magic was a bit weird. It didn't always make sense. And Gaelle's character felt a bit unflushed. The timeline confused me as well. Winter shows up in a nursing home in the present age, but yet she was alive during the time of slavery. That was not cleared up at all. She was there, did weird things, and then she wasn't there. I felt as though the whole timeline with Gaelle could have been skipped completely as it really had no bearing on the majority of the story, or the power of the story. I honestly think this book would have been better had it skipped magic completely and just showed the power of the men and women who fought their way to freedom without the intervention of voodoo gods. Those stories are powerful stories of strong, resilient men and women who deserve to be praised for the way they fought against everything to find themselves the freedom they deserved. The writing was well done, and honestly the way in which the story was told is what kept me going even when the book seemed a bit odd or confusing. I loved the fleshing out of the relationships between Mother Abigail and her family/slavers. I also loved the stories of grandmere, Margot and Veronique. I felt the heartache that Margot felt when she was betrayed by her slaver. More of that would have made for a marvelous and powerful telling of history. The magic just made it unbelievable and put a spin on the narrative that took away from the truly remarkable things strong men and women who had been broken again and again actually accomplished.