Tree of Life

The New York Times Book Review hailed Segu, Maryse Conde’s unforgettable saga of nineteenth-century Africa as the most significant historical novel about black Africa published in many a year. Children of Segu, the gripping sequel, was greeted with the acclaim due to a master storyteller at the height of her gifts. Now, with Tree of Life, Conde turns her impassioned, epic eye to the chaos and upheaval of the twentieth century. Rapidly shifting back and forth between Guadeloupe and Harlem, moving from Haiti’s desperate slums to the exclusive enclaves of the Parisian upper class, this deeply personal story traces one Guadeloupe family’s rise from poverty to riches through several generations. The story begins with Albert, the forebear, who leaves an island plantation to work on the Panama Canal and out of the horror of prejudice and oppression, fierily recreates himself as a man of immense wealth. We learn about his sons: Jacob, doomed to carry on his father’s business but yearning for a life of his own, and Jean, who rejects the privilege and riches that are his birthright and becomes a martyr to the struggling people of his tragic land; about his granddaughter, Thecla, who tries to find happiness through politics and men; and about Albert II, who meets his puzzling and heartbreaking end an ocean away from his family and his roots. The extraordinary tale is recounted by Coco, a contemporary female descendant, who finally reconciles herself to a past that has haunted her all her life. Like Segu and Children of Segu, Tree of Life is a grand historical pageant, overflowing with the interlocking tales of many lives, teeming with social, cultural, and political details. Rich and colorfuland glorious was how Maya Angelou described Segu. Tree of Life expands Maryse Conde’s unique vision into our time.