Book Title: The Signare of Gorée

Author: Laura Rahme

Publication Date: 9^th September 2024

Publisher: Independently Published

Pages: 301

Genre: Historical Mystery / Historical Fiction

Twitter Handle: @cathiedunn

Instagram Handles: @laurarahmegram @thecoffeepotbookclub @MaryLSchmidt

Hashtags: #HistoricalMystery #HistoricalFiction #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

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Title and Author Name:

The Signare of Gorée

By Laura Rahme

Blurb:

1846. In the heat of West Africa, the French navy uncovers the corpses of two French soldiers. Inspector Maurice Leroux arrives at the island of Gorée. It seems death has come to this small colonial outpost off the Senegal coast, home to the prosperous mixed-blood women known as the signares.

The navy suspects that the Bambara people, emboldened by approaching emancipation, may be out for blood. While confronted by the locals’ strange magical beliefs, Maurice remains skeptical. Does malevolence play a part, or are these deaths accidental, brought upon by the brutality of nature in an island known as the white man’s grave?

But when murder strikes, it becomes clear that a killer is stalking Gorée.

Swept by a mystery unlike any he has known, Maurice meets Signare Angélique Aussenac. The proud métis, deserted by her wealthy Bordeaux lover, casts her spell upon Maurice.

But beyond the throbbing sounds of the tam-tams and the glittering signare soirées, danger lurks. Someone is watching. And the deaths go on.

Could the killer be one of the rich Bordeaux merchants? Or are they hiding among the powerful signares?

A historical mystery spanning France and Senegal, THE SIGNARE OF GORÉE explores a world of magic, murder, and passion.

Why writing The Signare of Gorée was special to me

Born in Senegal like my father, I dearly wanted to write a novel set on the island of Gorée. From an early age I had been fascinated by its past.

For four centuries, Africa’s western coast served as ports of departure for slave trading ships bound for the American continent. Unlike what you might have heard, the island of Gorée off the coast of Senegal was not the largest slave exporting center in Africa. That title goes to the Kingdom of Loango which stretched across parts of modern Angola and Congo. Playing a lesser role in Senegal’s human traffic, Gorée was nevertheless home to one of many concentration camps where slaves were held and readied to be shipped to the Americas, embarking on a harrowing sea passage where only an average sixty percent would survive. Other exporting locations in Senegal included the island of Saint-Louis, Rufisque, Karabine, and Ziguinchor.

I beheld this tragic historical past, but I could not find a story I liked to go with it.

Then ten years ago, I stumbled across an online article about the powerful female traders who lived in both Gorée and Saint-Louis. Of mixed blood, bearing a title derived from the Portuguese word, senhora, which means lady, these signares came from a world that has long vanished. Captivated by these women who ran businesses and were so independent in many ways, I promised myself that I would write a novel that featured signares.

When I began writing The Signare of Gorée in 2022, I chose to feature the signare whose villa, still visited today, has made her famous all over the world: Anna Colas Pépin. In 2013, Barack Obama himself had visited Anna Colas Pépin’s house. Yet he, along with many who are not aware of the “captiveries” or official slave holding establishments that existed on the island – notably in its old military forts, see the house as the main slave holding place from which captives departed Gorée, and call it, “The House of Slaves”. With this in mind, I was keen to bring Anna Colas Pépin to life.

Things were working out. I had my setting, and I had my signares. But what I most wanted for this historical mystery was a cultural beat, a magic realism flavor of the brand I had tasted with stories like Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits. All my novels weave in a touch of the supernatural. Even my French chef biopic, The Secret of Chantilly, plays with fairy tale elements and often blurs the lines between reality and the wondrous realm. For The Signare of Gorée, I dearly wanted to highlight Senegalese folklore. My aim was to marry local cultural beliefs with the more cerebral aspects of the mystery. It turned out to be great fun and the result was just what I would expect of a story set in Senegal. Because when one studies Senegalese culture, one very often encounters syncretistic belief systems and behaviors.

In turns out there would be a further unique angle to my historical mystery set on Gorée island. It was not one I had imagined, and it took me by surprise.

It was while researching an 1839 review from Les Annales Maritimes et Coloniales (Colonial Maritime Annals published by the French Marine Ministry) that I stumbled on something by accident.

I was having a fantastic time reading about a 1837/1838 naval ship expedition along the West African coast, from Gorée all the way to what is now Angola, when the ship’s writer happened to mention a lieutenant’s name. Was I dreaming? The Mr Candeau he had referred to sounded very much like one of my ancestors, but I was not certain. The ship’s name was La Triomphante. At least that was a clue…

After reviewing the naval officers in my family’s Candeau genealogy and perusing the list of ships, along with their destinations, I found him! The lieutenant was my ancestor, Jules Leopold Candeau (we call him Leopold), and he was stationed in Gorée for several years. It was likely a base for patrolling the coast to intercept illegal slave traders. I could not believe it. According to the expedition described in the maritime annals, he would have sailed past Casamance, Sierra Leone, and into Dahomey. He would have witnessed firsthand the fierce Amazons who guarded the Dahomey king and hunted elephants. I was blown away.

This was beyond serendipity. It was as though from my DNA, into which all inter-generational memories are locked, a memory had been activated and led me to this discovery. I know for certain that my ancestors are always there, and I believe that Leopold Candeau was waiting for me to find him along my research journey.

It turns out, he was not the only one of my ancestors to set foot on Gorée. His great-grandfather, the infamous slave trader, Jean-Baptiste Candeau, would have stopped there on occasions. Similarly, his grandfather, the corsair Jean-Baptiste Antoine Candeau, who in his life spent 11 years in English captivity (bless him!), mysteriously died at sea off the coast of Senegal just after his retirement.

In the end I mention all three men in The Signare of Gorée. I am so glad I did that, and this novel is now more personal and meaningful to me as a result. Writing this book has been a wonderful experience.

Buy Links:

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Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/4Nl7xz

Author Bio:

Laura Rahme is the author of seven historical novels. Born in Dakar, Senegal where she spent her early childhood, she moved to Australia at the age of ten. A graduate of two Honors degrees in Aerospace Engineering and Psychology, she has worked over two decades as an IT professional. Her greatest joy comes from travel, researching history, and penning historical mysteries. She now lives in France with her screenwriting husband.

Author Links:

Website: https://teranga-and-sun.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laurarahme.author/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurarahmegram/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/teranga/

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Laura-Rahme/author/B008P7CF8K

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6449755.Laura_Rahme