DANCE ON THE VOLCANO tells the story of two sisters growing up in a culture that swings heavily between decadence and poverty, sensuality and depravity. One sister, because of her singing ability, is able to enter into the white colonial society otherwise generally off limits to people of colour. Closely examining a society sagging under the white supremacy of the French colonist rulers, it is one of the only novels to closely depict the seeds and fruition of the Haitian Revolution, tracking a hierarchy of skin colour and class through the experiences of two women.
