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The first-ever English translation of the first known novel to be written about Réunion Island, “The Maroons” relates in minute detail the horrors of slavery in the nineteenth century. A narrative full of shock and fervor, Louis Timagène Houat's only book embodies abolitionist history and the author's intense defense of miscegenation.
Frême, The Maroons' protagonist, is a young Black man enslaved on Réunion, a small island to the east of what is now Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Forced into slavery at the Atelier Colonial, the director rescues Frême to serve his children. As they grow up, Frême is returned to the Atelier, this time as a carpenter. Plagued by the memory of his childhood sweetheart, he finds Marie and decides to flee to the forest to live alongside the Maroons, enslaved people who have chosen freedom at the risk of their lives. While there, they meet resistance fighters demonstrating fraternity among races and interracial relations. The novel captures romance, violent episodes, and ideals of abolition at a time when freedom for enslaved persons remained an illusion.
Frême, The Maroons' protagonist, is a young Black man enslaved on Réunion, a small island to the east of what is now Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Forced into slavery at the Atelier Colonial, the director rescues Frême to serve his children. As they grow up, Frême is returned to the Atelier, this time as a carpenter. Plagued by the memory of his childhood sweetheart, he finds Marie and decides to flee to the forest to live alongside the Maroons, enslaved people who have chosen freedom at the risk of their lives. While there, they meet resistance fighters demonstrating fraternity among races and interracial relations. The novel captures romance, violent episodes, and ideals of abolition at a time when freedom for enslaved persons remained an illusion.