This mesmerising historical novel, set in the slave settlements of colonial Brazil, marks the long-awaited return of Gayl Jones, 'the best American novelist whose name you may not know' (Atlantic).

'I fell asleep and dreamed of Palmares, where one's true place in the world was said to be the same as any free man's or woman's . . . '

From plantation to plantation, Almeyda, a young slave girl, hears whispers, rumours of Palmares, a hidden settlement where fugitive slaves live free. But can this promised land exist? And what price is paid for 'freedom'?

Palmares reinvents 17th-century Black Brazil in all its multiplicity, beauty, humanity and chaos. It is a once-in-a-lifetime work of literature, the kind that changes your understanding of the world