Apricots: Murder and Mystery in Saint Domingue

Saint Domingue (present-day Haiti), 1792. In the wake of the largest slave rebellion the world has ever seen - one thousand plantations burned on the Northern plains - the young widow Rose Fongravier struggles to manage her crumbling coffee plantation. Early one morning she discovers a body at the bottom of her garden: An accident, a personal vendetta, or – God forbid – the start of another slave revolt?

Set over the course of one day against a backdrop of growing unrest in the French colony, the murder and its aftermath are seen through the eyes of a cross-section of the plantation’s inhabitants: each has a different understanding of who is at fault and who should be held responsible. As the day draws to an end and events reach a crescendo, different tragedies emerge and no one will escape unscathed.

Based on actual events and inspired by the surviving plantation records of an historical family, Apricots is a taut, atmospheric thriller that examines how the great events of the outside world shape and in turn are shaped by smaller, more intimate concerns and tragedies.