Palm Trees in the Snow

In 2003, Clarence finds in diaries and photographs hints of the secrets of her family's colonial past in present-day Equatorial Guinea. She leaves her family's estate in Equatorial Guinea to find the person who has been receiving financial assistance from her Uncle Kilian. Through flashbacks, as Clarence begins her research, we learn of Kilian leaving his home in Spain to join his brother and father on their cocoa plantation, where he is an overseer of the African laborers. He begins to loathe his brother's racism and sexual exploitation of the natives, and as he adjusts to the complications and difficulties of colonial life, he falls in love with Bisila, an African woman who works in the plantation hospital. A torrid love affair begins, despite Bisila being married and Kilian coming from a culture in which the Africans and their cultures are seen as inferior. Much to her horror and deep sorrow, Clarence learns of some of the terrible acts committed by her elders and learns many shocking truths when she manages to track down Bisila, who tells not only of the brutal racism that made their love affair difficult but also of the revolutionary zeal of the African continent during the 1960s, as Africans overthrew colonial rulers and fought for their liberation. Despite the horrors of their environment, Clarence learns of the transcendent and eternal love Bisila and Kilian shared for the rest of their lives.