Crossing the Mangrove

In first-person narration, Vilma wishes she were her Indian grandmother and had followed Sancher onto the funeral pyre. She believes he rescued her, and that her tragic life began at birth: Ignored by her father Sylvestre and resented by her mother Rosa for her dark skin, she seeks refuge in books and studies. Sylvestre eventually pulls teenage Vilma from school, having promised her in marriage to a wealthy family friend. One day, she encounters Sancher in the forest, and links him to Mira’s pregnancy. She decides to get pregnant too, to retaliate against her mother. Vilma goes to Sancher’s house, where she finds him on the veranda typing a book—Crossing the Mangrove. He is tormented at night, asking her if she can see the figure waiting for him. He writes all day and visits her at night. Sancher has flashbacks of fighting in Balombo, Angola, and cries when Vilma tells him of her pregnancy. They live like father and daughter from then on.

The third-person omniscient narrator introduces undocumented Haitian handyman Désinor. He enjoys the food at Sancher’s wake, as he often goes hungry. Still, he resents any charity he is given and wishes to join his friend Carlos and unnamed lover in America.