“I always left my window open at night, despite the warnings I’d been given. I rarely did as I was told. According to my mother, this had been my response to life ever since my birth, for it took three days for me to arrive in the world. As a child I did not sleep through the night, and I certainly didn’t follow any rules. But I was a girl who knew what I wanted.”

In these opening lines, Rachel is describing herself as a young girl always at odds with her mother and society’s expectations. Her individualism stays with her throughout her life and will later power her determination to marry Frédéric, despite years of public opprobrium, and to leave St. Thomas behind to live in France.

“My father had told me that no matter how comfortable we might feel, we must live like fish, unattached to any land. Wherever there was water, we would survive. Some fish could stay in the mud for months, even years, and when at last there was a high flooding tide, they would swim away, a dark flash, remembered only by their own kind. So perhaps the stories they told of our people were true: no net could hold us.”

Rachel’s father tells her that the Jewish people must always be ready to move. Rachel’s Jewish ancestors faced generations of persecution—no matter where they moved—because of their Jewish faith. This cycle repeated itself until Rachel’s parents moved to St. Thomas, an island the Danish King declared safe for people of the Jewish faith. However, even though the Jewish community on St. Thomas is strong and vibrant, Rachel’s father points out that things can change quickly, and they must be ready to find safety elsewhere if necessary.

“I could hear moths fluttering, many as big as birds, as they struck against the shutters of my room, called to the yellow light of the candle on my table. They could not get in. Whether they were spirits, I did not know. I wondered if all creatures were drawn to what was dangerous or if we merely wanted light at any cost and were willing to burn for our desires.”

Rachel reveals her belief in the spirit world. While her parents raise her in the Jewish faith, many people on the island practice a Spiritualism that has its roots in various African religions. Adelle believes Rachel has the gift of contacting deceased spirits, and her beliefs have become Rachel’s. But what’s also important to this moment is what Rachel contemplates while watching the moths.