Mallard

Mallard is the small Louisiana town where Desiree and Stella Vignes grow up. Founded in 1848 by an African American man, Alphonse Decuir, after he suffered from discrimination because of his light skin, Mallard was a place where only light-skinned blacks might live. The town's colorist prejudices create a hostile environment particularly for Jude Winston, after she and her mother flee Sam and move back into town. The town is unmarked on any and all maps, and impossible to find in any historical documents. By the end of the novel, its population is absorbed into a neighboring town.

After over a decade of being away, Desiree and her daughter settle here, moving back in with Adele Vignes. Though she hates the town, Desiree stays as she has nowhere else to go. Here she reconnects and begins a lifelong relationship with Early Jones. Later, Stella returns to Mallard after decades...