When strangers invade her village in 1910

Young princess Samarah's knowledge of English unwittingly contributes to her capture. Forced into a life of servitude on a plantation far removed from her homeland, Samarah struggles with losing the life and people she had known and loved. Her mother and Bintum - her childhood love who seeks and reunites with her at the plantation - offer a sense of the familiar until tragedy strikes leaving Samarah alone and angry.

Mayne Patterson and the struggle for love

As the son of Samarah's employer, Mayne Patterson represents all that has caused pain, misery, and uncertainty in Samarah's life. Mayne is in love with Samarah and will do everything he can to get her. Can Samarah overcome all the hurt and misgivings to see Mayne for who he is and not what he embodies?

Choices and identity

Torn between the love to whom she is betrothed and her growing attraction to Mayne, Samarah must decide between her heart's desires and her obligations to her homeland. This debut historical fiction is at once a story of love and identity as it is a portrait of aspects of colonial rule in Africa.