u003cbu003eAN EPIC TALE OF LOVE AND LIBERATION, SET IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY COLONIAL BRAZILu003c/bu003eFrom plantation to plantation, Almeyda, a young slave girl, hears whispers, rumours of Palmares, a hidden settlement where fugitive slaves live free. But can this promised land exist? And what price is paid for 'freedom'?In u003ciu003ePalmares,u003c/iu003e Gayl Jones brings to life a world full of unforgettable characters, reimagining extraordinary historical events and combining them with mythology and magic. The result is a sweeping saga spanning a quarter of a century. Of Gayl Jones, the u003ciu003eNew Yorkeru003c/iu003e noted, '[Her] great achievement is to reckon with both history and interiority, and to collapse the boundary between them.' Like nothing else before it, u003ciu003ePalmaresu003c/iu003e embodies this gift. u003cbu003eu003ciu003ePalmaresu003c/iu003e hails the return of a major voice in American literature - 'the best American novelist whose name you may not know' (u003ciu003eAtlanticu003c/iu003e). Gayl Jones was first discovered and edited by Toni Morrison, and her talent was praised by writers including Maya Angelou, James Baldwin and John Updike. After a handful of acclaimed novels, she withdrew from the publishing world. Now Jones returns with her first new novel in over twenty years.u003c/bu003e