Tonight, by Sea

Book Cover

Tonight, by Sea is a book written by Frances Temple.

Plot details

Paulie does not want to leave Haiti, the only home she has ever known, but the macoutes are threatening her family and the village Belle Flueve with guns and knives. This compelling and informative story about a family’s dramatic escape from Haiti by sea also shows the political and economic issues involved. Paulie lives in Haiti with her Grann and her uncle, the village coffin maker who has turned his skills to boat building to escape the brutality and starvation that has taken over his homeland. Paulie and other neighbors help with the clandestine project. Pauli wants to stay and fight; she wants to tell a reporter from Miami what it is really like in Haiti. But Jean-Desir did that and he is dead. And now the macoutes are coming with their guns and knives, they are coming to take the boat, Seek Life. And so Pauli and her family put to sea, to seek safety, to seek freedom, to seek life. Seek life. Chache Lavi. That's what Paulie's uncle says they must do. But to seek life, Paulie and her family have to leave Haiti-the only home that Paulie has ever known. Since forever, Paulie has run in and out of the little houses nestled under the palms, smelling cocoa-bread and playing on the beach with her best friend Karyl. But now the little houses are gone. Their wood has been made into a boat used to escape Haiti. Paulie wants to stay and fight-to change Haiti into a better place to live. She wants to talk to the reporters and bravely tell the truth, like Karyl's brother, Jean-Desir. But the macoutes come with their guns and knives to stop them. And they do something so terrible that Paulie must face the truth: before the soldiers come back, they must all leave-tonight, by sea.