New York: Warner, (2003.). SIGNED first edition - INSCRIBED on the title page. Fascinating historical novel by this award winning writer. Spanning the centuries, and imbued by the spirit of Afro-Caribbean mythology, it tells the stories of 3 women - Mer, a slave-midwife struggling to survive on the island of Saint Domingue, before it was renamed Haiti; Jeanne who is having an affair with the 19th century French bohemian poet Charles Baudelaire, and Meritet, a 3rd century Nubian prostitute who becomes known as 'St Mary of the Desert.'