Sister Mother Warrior -- Vanessa Riley

<p><strong>ONE OF<em> USA TODAY</em>'S BEST BOOKS OF SUMMER!</strong></p><p><strong>"This book is not only a one-sitting read, it's a slice of history that needs to be told. Utterly brilliant, powerful, and inspiring."--Kristan Higgins, <em>New York Times</em> bestselling author of <em>Always the Last to Know</em></strong></p><p><strong>Acclaimed author of <em>Island Queen</em> Vanessa Riley brings readers a vivid, sweeping novel of the Haitian Revolution based on the true-life stories of two extraordinary women: the first Empress of Haiti, Marie-Claire Bonheur, and Gran Toya, a West African-born warrior who helped lead the rebellion that drove out the French and freed the enslaved people of Haiti. </strong></p><p><strong>Gran Toya</strong>: Born in West Africa, Abdaraya Toya was one of the legendary minos--women called "Dahomeyan Amazons" by the Europeans--who were specially chosen female warriors consecrated to the King of Dahomey. Betrayed by an enemy, kidnapped, and sold into slavery, Toya wound up in the French colony of Saint Domingue, where she became a force to be reckoned with on its sugar plantations: a healer and an authority figure among the enslaved. Among the motherless children she helped raise was a man who would become the revolutionary Jean-Jacques Dessalines. When the enslaved people rose up, Toya, ever the warrior, was at the forefront of the rebellion that changed the course of history.</p><p><strong>Marie-Claire</strong>: A free woman of color, Marie-Cl