Africa

The continent of Africa is the book's primary geo-physical setting. Several chapters of Book One and all of Book Two take place there as the characters in both sections struggle to define what it means to be black in Africa, and to live an individual, independent life there.

Lai

This is the small tribal community in which Gbessa is born and raised. It is the setting for both the earliest chapters of the narrative and of the climax of Gbessa's story, i.e. the point at which she returns to Lai in triumph and in power.

The American South

The southern region of the United States of America, with its long history of engagement with the slave trade, is the setting for the book's second chapter. It is where central characters Charlotte and June Dey establish their identities, in circumstances that develop significant components of the book's thematic...