Summary
This is a novel that takes us into the heart of the French Revolution. The story is of two eleven year old twin boys, Marassa and Midnight, who are slaves on the Caribbean Island of Haiti. They become separated, and they try to find each other again.
Marassa is sold as a page boy to a French Marquis, and is taken from Haiti to the France. On one sad day, his master flees France because of the French Revolution, abandoning Marassa in the process. Marassa is dangerously ill, and alone in a foreign country. He is found and nursed back to health by an exiled Scottish highlander and his servant. Marassa calls him by the name of his estate - Tir nan Og, which is very like the name of the Creole god, Ti nan Ogoun. Marassa and Tir nan Og become friends, and when Marassa is back to good health, he begs his protector to take him back to San Domingo, or Haiti as the Creoles call it, so that he can be reunited with his brother Midnight. Tir nan Og agrees. There is nothing for him in France now and he cannot go back to Scotland.
Meanwhile, back in Haiti, Midnight is devastated by the loss of his twin. It has been thirteen full moons since Marassa has been gone. Midnight begins to keep himself separated from the other slaves. Three days after Marassa had gone; Midnight had tried to run away in hopes of finding the marquis who had bought Marassa. He failed, and was found by a white overseer and was brought back to the plantation where he was branded. Because of this, the slaves were even more restricted, and they all hated him for this. Partly because of this he becomes involved in the plotting of the slave revolution, he once again runs away from the slaves, and is now a Maroon.
During this revolution, there are two different parties involved. There are the savage, cruel forces of the god Ogoun. They will alert their followers by messages sent by drums. But when he hears the drums Midnight knows it is a trick. He knows there is a place in the hills where there is an echo. It is not magic; it is the echo which sends the sound of the drums over the whole island. And the Great One is not the god Ogoun but a leader of the Maroons.
Opposed to this combination of bad Negroes and Maroons is the clever and kind old Papa Doctor. He says that hatred is poison. One night he visits Midnight and they take a liking to each other; Papa Doctor calls him the Prince of Dahomey. Papa Doctor warns him of danger, and assures him that he and Marassa will one day be reunited. Papa Doctor sends secret messengers to keep in touch with Midnight. Their password is Feraille.
The next day Marassa and Tir nan Og arrive on the island and find that Midnight has run away, and also that Tir nan Og’s love had moved to the Americas and married a rich American gentleman. They set out to try and find him.
Marassa is mistaken for Midnight, and is captured by a cruel Beke, Milord, and his sons, who tie him to the back of a carriage and drag him across the street, while severely flogging him. Papa Doctor and Tir nan Og, with word from Christopher, Papa Doctor’s messenger, come to save him. For compensation for mistreating Marassa, Tir nan Og is allowed to buy Midnight, with Papa’s Beke as his “banker”. Tir nan Og then meets Papa Doctor, and Papa’s Beke takes them all back to Papa Doctor’s house. Papa nurses the nearly unconscious Marassa.
That same night, as Marassa sleeps under a mango tree at Papa’s house, an unexpected storm hits the island. Flames leap up and he sees the Beke, Papa Doctor and Tir nan Og run into the stables to run all the horses out. While attending to dinner and wounds, Papa remembers Marassa and goes back, finding him asleep in the kitchen. He recalls for Marassa his encounters with Midnight. He finds that Marassa has branded himself with Mama’s fault-iron, just like Midnight’s brand.
The storm sounded like a hurricane to Midnight as well, but he hugs Dove and Diamond for safety, saying that Papa Midnight will protect them. The sides of the cave of the mountain begin to fall in. The gale strikes at them from two sides at once. Midnight realizes they are trapped, and that the rest of the cave must fall in to, hurling them into a gully. Suddenly, a flash of lightning reveals man-made stirs in the ground. He goes down this stairway, which leads him and his hounds up another stairway, which lead them to the top of King’s Mountain.
The next morning, suddenly, Midnight feels Marassa come back to him and feels a sudden new determination to find him. Meanwhile, Marassa, Papa Doctor and Tir nan Og go to Milord’s plantation to make Midnight’s sale official. After that Marassa and Tir nan Og set out to find Midnight. The journey is long and tiresome, and Marassa begins to lose faith. At the bottom of King’s Mountain, Marassa sees Midnight’s footprint and then nothing, and they conclude that he is dead, but Marassa does not want to believe it. Marassa calls for him, but Midnight does not hear because, by ill fate, he is underground looking for food.
Midnight continues to walk, and finds himself looking at his old slave plantation from the trunk of a tree. He sees Marassa from afar, but does not know it is he. Once again, the twins are so close, yet so far away. On the night of their twentieth moon of separation, a fire of a sugar plantation breaks out. The rebellion begins with the Night of Flames. From a hiding place, Midnight sees the slaughter and butchery of the whites and realizes that Papa Doctor is right.
After the flames have all died, the next day Midnight went back to the plantation, to find his old Beke and his sons murdered. All the Bekes were killed, but few Negroes. Midnight knows that the whites can be very cruel but he had not known that the Negroes can be cruel too. Before, he had wanted a few supplies but he would feel ashamed taking anything from that place and so he left. When he reached the tunnel where he told his friends to wait for him, he finds that the place is flooded out and almost drowns, but is saved by Dove and Diamond.
Midnight awakes and stares at a nearby Maroon settlement for the third time. He is amazed at the tranquility and how much different their lives are from his. Midnight goes and gets his hounds and goes back to his look-out. A few hours later he finally decides to approach them. He speaks to them of the Feraille, asking them for food. The people of the village are frightened; they believe that he is Ogoun and begs him to eat their food. He tries desperately to tell them that he is just a boy of their race, but finally gives up and feeds his dogs and leaves. He goes back the next day at noon, but it is no different but because they had insisted, he took a red belt. That night Midnight went back into the underground staricase and found some gifts that he could give to the over friendly Maroons. The Maroons liked them and shared them among the people. Midnight wathced them with envy of their life. He wished he could be one of them
