Rachel Aouli Kalama Utagawa

Rachel is the main character of the novel, and it is through the course of her lifetime that the book takes place. The novel opens when Rachel is a fun loving five-year-old amid a lively and caring family. The shocking revelation that she has leprosy is even more frightening given her age, but it is here that Rachel begins to demonstrate some of her most defining character traits. While most people, adults and children alike, blindly cooperate with authorities, Rachel is immediately willing to challenge the powers that exert control on her life. When a doctor fails to listen to her complaints during an examination, a seven-year-old Rachel grabs him in the groin and demonstrates what it is like to feel pain in a sensitive region. When nuns fail to appreciate her affection for her dying uncle, the child escapes during a rainy night and...