“Break a vase, and the love that reassembles the fragments is stronger than the love which took its symmetry for granted when it was whole.”

Derek Walcott

The setting for this story rooted in history is the Caribbean of the 1830’s. It is a time of tumultuous change, especially for the British plantation owners. Anticipating the abolition of slavery by the British Parliament, slaves are restless, owners are scrambling, and a spirit of determination permeates the air.

We meet Rachel, a woman defined by no memory of a mother or father, a life of exhausting field work, and the loss of her eleven children. When faced with the bitter truth of the ambiguities of British Emancipation, she flees the plantation during the night. Desperation and fear move her to run, and keep running, seeking a freedom she has never known, and deeply longing to once again hold the five children that were taken from her and sold.

Thus begins Rachel’s journey, a journey that will take her from Barbados to BritishGuiana to Trinidad in her search for the children, her “pickney”. It is also a new chapter in Rachel’s life journey as she wrestles with the risk of vulnerability and trust, the cost of hope, and what it means to be “free”. She comes to understand that she is learning to live out her own story, but a mother’s aching heart must allow those she loves to be free to embrace their own unique stories.  

Rachel’s story spoke to me in many ways. I have been vividly reminded of the immense privileges and freedom I have known throughout my life. It is also deeply impacting to learn from another person’s life experiences, the joys and the sorrows. Rachel’s painful open-handedness with several of her children spoke of my need to not only recognize the longings of my mother heart but also the need to ultimately affirm my children in their own life journeys.

As Brene Brown says, “When we deny the story, it defines us. When we own the story, we can write a brave new ending.” 

Mary Charnley, March 2024

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