Although he was a staunch supporter of French colonialism, Paul Hazoumé in his realistic, sweeping nineteenth-century narrative captures the customs and traditions—the soul—of Dahomey. This historical novel, set in the first half of the nineteenth century, depicts a proud and powerful nation at a turning point in its long pattern of wars, slave trade, and human sacrifices—practices that, in the West, earned Dahomey (now part of Benin) a reputation for brutality.

Considered the first Dahomean novel, this long-neglected masterpiece was originally published in French in 1937.