Author Vanessa Riley’s new historical novel, Sister Mother Warrior (Morrow, Jul.), probes Haitian history and fictionalizes the lives of two women who figured prominently in the Haitian revolution: Abdaraya “Gran” Toya, a woman warrior who was part of the fight for freedom against the island’s French enslavers; and Marie-Claire Heureuse Félicité Bonheur, a free woman of color who would become Empress of Haiti, ruling with Jean-Jacques Dessalines. LJ asked Riley about the inspiration for her newest novel. Find more historical fiction coverage in our genre preview. 

How did you first learn about Abdaraya Toya and Marie-Claire Heureuse Félicité Bonheur and their historical impact, and what made you decide to write about them?

When I learned that the Dora Milaje of Marvel’s Black Panther—the all-female troop with the primary duty to protect the king—was based on the Dahomey Amazons, I went on an earnest search to learn more about these extraordinary women. Discovering that Abdaraya Toya was not only one of these soldiers, but that she is also highly regarded in Haiti as a fighter in the Haitian Revolution, meant I had to know everything about her. Discovering her connection to Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the man who liberated Haiti from French rule, was the icing on a perfect gateau au beurre. Dessalines’s military prowess had to have come from her guidance. The world needed to know more about Abdaraya.

Similarly, Marie-Claire is a dashing figure in history. I believe she was the first battlefield nurse, predating Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole. Marie-Claire is also connected to Dessalines. I began imagining the conversations these two ladies, peace and power, must have shared—on womanhood, freedom, and of course, Dessalines.

We know the men: Louverture, Dessalines, Christophe, and Pétion. It’s a shame we don’t know more about the women. Many sisters, mothers, and daughters warred in the Haitian Revolution. Their sacrifices are one of the reasons the rebellion succeeded.

Do you have a favorite character among the women of Sister Mother Warrior? Anyone whose life you’d like to do a deeper dive into and write a follow-up? If not one of the women of Saint-Domingue, are you researching another historical figure now for their own novel?

I adore Abdaraya. The picture of a strong woman who never gave up and was willing to fight with her last strength amazes me. Her story could’ve ended with her being freed, but she chose to keep fighting. The Haitian Revolution and the subsequent peace are ripe with women who need to be memorialized for their actions. They helped defeat a world power, won permanent freedom for the enslaved, and formed a new nation.

There is one woman briefly mentioned in Sister Mother Warrior whose story I’m currently writing. She led an extraordinary life of poverty, riches, betrayal, and power.

I’ve long been a fan of your historical romance novels; how does your romance writing inform your historical fiction titles?

Writing romance has sharpened my skills at showing empathy and how to take moments and slow time to convey, in the sharpest contrasts, the most human of emotions: love, joy, and fear. Writing romance helps me tell a richer story that draws the reader to inhabit the stakes and the sacrifices. This is particularly important when showing history that’s not widely known, of characters who don’t look like themselves, or whose ancestors had different paths for survival. I want a reader to not only wear the shoes of my characters but to also possess their skin and their hearts.

What are you reading right now or looking forward to reading in the historical fiction genre?

I’m saving The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn for a “finished-the-manuscript” treat, but I thoroughly enjoyed Chanel Cleeton’s Our Last Days in Barcelona, Piper Huguley’s By Her Own Design, and Denny S. Bryce’s In the Face of the Sun.

What was the hardest part of researching this book?

Other than translating French, it was acquiring source material on the attitudes of colorism during the span of the novel. Colorism, the perspective of giving agency or favoritism based on shades of skin tone or color, was an insidious relic of colonialism. It still causes problems today. 

Jane Jorgenson, a previous LJ reviewer of the year, is supervising librarian, Hawthorne & Pinney libraries, Madison Public Library, WI. In addition to reviewing for Library Journal (since 1999), she also wrote reviews for a romance website and the mystery bookstore she worked at for 10 years. She has also served on LJ’s best books fiction committee.