Summary

Section 1, titled "Freedom," switches voices between an omniscient narrator, and two sisters, Eeona and Anette. The novel takes place in the island cluster that starts as the Danish West Indies, but becomes owned by America within the first two chapters. Most of this first section takes place on the island of St. Thomas.

When the story starts, it is storming outside. The omniscient narrator tells of Owen Arthur Bradshaw, Eeona and Anette's father. He is at a party of one of his business partners. The men at the party are watching an electricity experiment being done on a little American girl. As the girl is tied up, Owen Arthur thinks of his daughter Eeona. He sees the little girl as beautiful, afraid, and brave. Her smallness reminds him of Eeona and makes him long for her. The reader learns that...