Haiti has always been one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, and as a result literature has not been a high priority for its inhabitants. To this day, between twenty and forty-five percent of the country's inhabitants are unable to read, and those who have been able to attain an education have used it to fight against the country's debilitating poverty. In addition to this, women have been abandoned to a secondary position in Haitian society, as is seen in Seth and Samona by Chantal's struggle against her parents' expectations that she will be a housekeeper or take a menial job. As a result of these conditions, there is not a very large canon of writing by Haitian women.

The first novels by Haitian women began appearing around 1934, at the end of the U.S. occupation of the country. As with many cultures, the...