The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Jones, Gayl. Palmares. Beacon Press, 2021.

Palmares has six chapters. Each follows a rough chronology in the life of the narrator, Almeyda. Subsections of each chapter are episodic, and often describe specific occurrences or persons. Gayl Jones begins the novel by introducing Almeyda, an eight old girl who lives with her mother, Acaiba, and her grandmother, Ituiba. They reside on the plantation of a Portuguese planter named Entralgo, in the northeast Brazilian state of Alagoas. Ituiba is considered insane. It is repeatedly suggested that she will soon be sent to an asylum exclusively for Africans. In discussions with her grandmother, Almeyda shares her own bewildering dreams, which prove to be psychic visions of future events.

Almeyda – or Almeydita, as she is diminutively called – is a gifted child who has, exceptionally for those born into slavery in Brazil at the time, been taught to read and write by the local Franciscan priest, Father Tollinare. She is well versed in numerous languages. The African pupils taught by the Franciscan are referred to as “Father Tollinare’s experiments” (184) because the practice of educating enslaved children is both novel and recent amongst the Portuguese colonialists.

The education that Father Tollinare imparts is limited, however. It is largely based around reading and copying Catholic scriptures. Almeyda is not satisfied with this kind of rote learning and is fascinated by Father Tollinare’s room full of forbidden books. She eventually gains secret access to this room from Mexia, Father Tollinare’s Afro-Indian concubine, who fascinates the young Almeyda in her silence and stoicism. This furthers Almeyda’s quest for knowledge and truth.

After various encounters with local traders and guests who stay at Entralgo’s plantation, Almeyda is sought out by Entralgo. Entralgo has promised to provide her to a visiting man with a venereal disease, as it is believed that sex with an African virgin will cure his illness. Acaiba is determined to protect her daughter and shields her from this planned rape, first by protesting to Entralgo and ultimately by concocting an herbal potion that causes pelvic muscle spasms that make her impervious to rape. For this act of impertinence Entralgo sells Acaiba. Almeyda, sexually devalued in the eyes of Entralgo, is later sold in a slave market as well.

A Polish shoemaker named Sobrieski purchases Almeyda and she is sent to a cassava plantation owned by a man named Azevedo. Azevedo favors Almeyda, now fifteen years of age, and, after masturbating in her presence, gives her sandals to wear as a gift. After a brief period of cutting cassava, Sobrieski transfers Almeyda to his shoemaking workshop, but it is still not clear to Almeyda if she has been rented by Sobrieski or if he owns her outright, as she has been hired out before this in the town. After a short period learning to work with shoe leather, the Sobrieski’s workshop is raided by men from Palmares – the legendary quilombo (a community/polity of liberated slaves) that Almeyda has heard whispers of all throughout her youth. She has dreamed about Palmarees extensively. The Palmaristas liberate Almeyda and the other slaves, taking them back to their independent polity.

When Almeyda arrives in Palmares she discovers that her grandmother has not been sent to an asylum but is in fact living in the quilombo. She learns about the laws and customs of the kingdom, run by an intrepid man called King Zumbi. Zumbi takes many wives but every man is encouraged to find a bride. Women those who refuse to marry, are undesired are still treated like slaves, as are men who were resistant to liberation such as Almeyda’s companion in the shoemaking workshop, Pedro the Third.

A proud Muslim man named Anninho has chosen Almeyda as his wife. They wed in both Islamic and Christian ceremonies. Almeyda travels around with Anninho, who delivers messages for King Zumbi and cultivates spies for Palmares, which is continuously under threat from the Portuguese. Through these travels Almeyda learns of Anninho’s brilliance and daring. He has plans to devise a new type of merchant marine vessel that will come to dominate international trade and he cultivates contacts with whalers in North America and traders in Africa.

Almeyda intuits that Anninho is pursuing plans independent of King Zumbi’s and is preparing to escape from Palmares before an anticipated attack from the Portuguese. When it arrives, Anninho and Almeyda flee, and kingdom is scattered. After traveling in the interior for some time, with aid of Tupi Amerindians, Anninho and Almeyda are ambushed by bushwhackers and separated. Almeyda does not recall the attack in full but awakes to find Anninho gone. Almeyda’s breasts have been brutally slashed off. She is recovered somewhere in the Barriaga mountains and cared for by a woman named Old Vera. The writer Barcala Aprigio visits her and tries to convince her to go away with him to Europe. Almeyda then recounts his stories of Brazil, published years later, in full.

Eventually, while most of the scattered Palmaristas try to regroup, Almeyda finds her way from the mountains to Bahia. She goes to Luiza Cosme, an associate of Anninho’s. Luiza takes Almeyda under her wing, initiating her as apprentice in the world of healing and mysticism, which comprises knowledge so replete and robust that Almeyda becomes a very powerful healer over time. She decides that she cannot continue to stay with Luiza as her subordinate, however, and seeks out to Minas Gerais, the mining region, to search for Anninho.

Almeyda takes up with a solitary woman named Mauritia, who helps her search for Anninho. She learns about the life peculiar to the gold mining region, where she survives a smallpox outbreak. Mauritia ultimately accompanies her back to Bahia, where she becomes enchanted by Luiza, who prizes her away from Almeyda. Almeyda continues on her journey towards the New Palmares in Parahyba, where she is finally reunited with Anninho, who has had his own trials and tribulations involving captivity and daring. The story ends at the dawn of the 18th century, in 1701.