Almeyda

Almeyda is the narrator of the story, which begins with her as an eight-year-old girl living as a slave on the plantation of a man called Entralgo. Almeyda is an avid learner and a gifted polymath. She has an acutely perceptive streak. She is an avid observer of the world. She has received a limited education from the local Franciscan priest, Father Tollinare, who has selected a certain number of enslaved children and Amerindians to tutor in Catholic scripture and Latin.

Despite her precocious nature, she is forbidden from accessing Father Tollinare’s room of forbidden books. This is her greatest desire as a child, the thing that will satisfy her thirst for knowledge. Throughout much of her childhood, Almeyda is shy. She has a strong bond with her grandmother, Ituiba, and a somewhat rivalrous relationship with her mother, Acaiba. Both of refer to her as Almeydita, in...