The Cost of Sugar

The Cost of Sugar é um romance histórico passado no século XVIII no Suriname, uma colónia holandesa na América do Sul. A história centra-se nas vidas de duas meio-irmãs, Elza e Sarith, descendentes de colonizadores holandeses e filhas de um proprietário de plantação.
O livro oferece uma representação realista e intensa do estilo de vida nas plantações durante a era do açúcar, a importância económica do ouro branco, as hierarquias sociais e a intricada teia de relacionamentos entre as várias personagens. Também aborda temas como amor, traição, sacrifício e a resiliência do espírito humano perante a adversidade.

It now occurred to Elza that her family was in fact a model for all Suriname society. Wasn't everyone and everything totally dependent on the slaves? Just as she felt so completely lost without Maisa, so the colony would be totally lost without its slaves. They did everything and knew everything, and the whites knew nothing and were incapable of anything. The whites needed the negroes, but the negroes didn't need a single white person: look how the Maroons had managed to create a complete society in the jungle, knowing how to put everything to good use. Without tools and weapons they knew how to survive, feed themselves and defeat the military. And the whites? If they got lost in the jungle, that meant certain death, for they could not survive of their own account. If the negroes were no longer in this colony the whole structure of society would collapse like a puffed-up pudding.



67/198 - Suriname