Summary

Chapter 1 – It is 1807 in Charlotte Amalie, on the Island of Saint Thomas. 12 year-old Rachel Pomie and her family are Jewish. Her grandparents fled religious persecution in France years before, ultimately coming to settle on Danish-held Saint Thomas because Denmark tolerated the free practice of religion. Rachel’s favorite place in the house is her father’s library, where she loves to read and look at maps of the world. Rachel’s father educates both Rachel and her best friend, the half-black Jestine, daughter of the family’s cook, Adelle. Rachel also loves French fashion and longs to leave the island. Rachel knows she and her fellow Jews are meant to behave and go unnoticed so that the Jews will not incur the wrath of the Danish king, but Rachel refuses to conform. Rachel enjoys breaking any rule she can, such as leaving her window...