Rosa Maria Egipcíaca da Vera Cruz

"Afro-Brazilian novel whose characters are African slaves in colonial Brazil. They speak together in Portuguese and in the language spoken in Benin, their birthplace. Author creates an atmosphere of transmutation between herself and Rosa Maria, the protagonist, a woman of noble origin sold as a slave before becoming an heiress to a fortune in gold. Novel portrays an intriguing side of colonial Brazil from the viewpoint of the senzala (slave headquarters) inhabitants"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58.