"They were New Orleans' gen de couleur libre - the copper-skinned half-castes who lived recklessly and loved passionately, trapped in a world between black and white.
Marcel - the young, blue-eyed scholar, sensitive, and longing always for Paris. Marie - his breathtakingly beautiful sister, cursed with the ability to pass for white. Cristophe - novelist and teacher, the idol of all the young gens. Anna Bella - light in skin, African in feature, chosen for the white man."