The author draws upon the history of the 1832 slave rebellion in Jamaica to tell the story of July, a young slave girl, who is taken in as a house servant by her British overseer and subsequently abused.
After becoming aware of the racism that exists in England, Faith Jackson follows the advice of her parents and travels to their homeland of Jamaica where she meets her aunt Coral who tells her stories of her ancestry.
Hortense Joseph arrives in London from Jamaica in 1948 hoping to start a new life with her husband, but the pair soon find themselves struggling to fit into an unknown culture.
A tale inspired by the years before and after nineteenth-century Jamaica's emancipation finds the willful slave Miss July moving into her mistress's great house, where she becomes a valuable confidante, learns to read, and witnesses the Baptist War.
