The narration describes how Nanni had the gift of being able to disappear while in nature, and how Norman inherited that gift. The third sequence of chapters in Book One focuses on a white British researcher in Jamaica named Callum Aragon, his black slave Nanni, and the child they have together, Norman. June Dey continues his journeys through America. He attempts to flee with her, but she dies in his arms. June Dey defends her, showing no signs of being wounded when he is whipped and shot. At one point, he and Darlene are sold to different owners, but Darlene resists.

June Dey is raised by Darlene, growing up to be incredibly strong and apparently invulnerable to harm. Eventually, the narration also reveals that Charlotte is, in fact, a ghost, and that the baby, whom she names June Dey, was magically conceived and born. Charlotte’s narration describes her giving birth to a baby boy and reveals that Dey is the father, but also states that she and Dey never actually had sexual relations.

In first-person narration, Charlotte describes her circumstances and history, including her long-standing conflict with the beautiful Darlene and her involvement with a male slave named Dey. The second sequence of chapters in Book One focuses initially on Charlotte, a black woman working as a slave on the Emerson plantation in America. On her departure she is bitten by a poisonous snake, but even as she feels the poison enter her system, she knows she cannot and will not die. As adults, Gbessa and Safua find themselves attracted to each other, but when Safua’s son falls ill and apparently dies, the village blames Gbessa and her curse, and she is forced to leave. She is viewed with fear and treated with disrespect throughout her life, even by a boy named Safua, who visits her when she is imprisoned in her mother’s home and grows into a leader and warrior. The first sequence of chapters in Book One is titled “Gbessa,” and focuses on a young woman – Gbessa – who is regarded by those in her small African village as having been cursed at birth. The first section of the narrative, Book One, is titled “The Three,” and focuses on the early lives of the story’s three main characters. The use of the lower-case “b” to refer to the black characters in the book is reflective of the text’s own usage of the term. The multi-faceted narrative is set in the early 1800’s and explores the experiences of several characters whose lives are shaped, directly or indirectly, by the slave trade of that era in history.

The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Moore, Wayetu.

She would be king wayetu moore