Black Sugar by Miguel Bonnefoy

Gallic Books have a lovely knack for publishing quirky and engaging novels, often compact and always accessible. Miguel Bonnefoy continues that tradition with his intriguing second novel, Black Sugar. The story begins in the days of galleons and navigation by the stars as a three-masted pirate ship finds itself inexplicably marooned in the canopy of a vast Latin American forest. If you're looking for hard, cold realism you won't find it here, thankfully. The tale segues into the story of three generations of women of the Oteros family whose sugarcane farm may or may not sit on top of the beleaguered pirates' famed treasure trove. Over the years the men of the family shape the land they tend, but it's the strong-willed women who shape the family, steering it through the decades, letting their hearts rule their heads. With a pitch-perfect translation by Emily Boyce, this is a beautifully crafted tale of how small loves can grow into the big ones, often quite unexpectedly.