Dante Williams is born into slavery in 1852, the same day that "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is published. He isn't freed during the Civil War but is sold to a sugar plantation in Cuba, which continues slavery for another ten years. Nevertheless, he does well and is rewarded with a wife, who on Heartbreak Day, every January 1, is sent out on contract as a cook. Dante flees to New York, learns to read and write, returns to Cuba, and exacts his own form of...