Xander Miller

A riveting fiction debut--a love story, told in gorgeous prose, and set on an extraordinary stage: Haiti, on the eve of the 2010 earthquake.

When we first meet Zwazo Delalun--Zo--as a young orphan in a fishing village in Haiti, he already possesses every trademark of a hero: he's handsome, strong, independent, honest, courageous, and determined to make a life for himself, on his own terms. As he grows up, Zo comes to possess something else, too--an unfailing instinct for how to make a woman happy. And yet he has never been in love. Until the morning when, working under the broiling sun as a day laborer, he meets the stunning twenty-one-year-old Anaya. Instantly, fiercely, the two are attracted to each other. But Anaya's rich and powerful father wants her to marry the man he has chosen for her--a well-regarded doctor, just like himself.

Zo and Anaya therefore love in secret, wherever they can, and at any hour they can find. But just as they think they have found a way to be together, an unstoppable force crosses their path: an earthquake that roils the ground beneath their feet and rips their country apart. Lost to one another, wounded, each fears the other has died. In the face of the suffering that blankets the island, Zo must risk everything to try to find the woman he loves. Impassioned and suspenseful, this luminous debut captures the sensory splendor of Haiti as it tells an unforgettable story--of love and heartbreak, forgiveness and redemption.

From the Hardcover edition.