Maryse was the eighth, and unexpected, child in her family. She arrived after a difficult pregnancy while the town of La Pointe, Guadeloupe, was celebrating Mardi Gras. her father was a civil servant decorated with the Légion d'honneur, her elegant mother a respected schoolteacher. Young Maryse was raised to appreciate French culture and was sent to private school. Hers was a proud family in which appearances, skin tone, language, and class were important, her parents ever mindful of being a part of a world that for centuries had been reserved only for whites.

In this collection of autobiographical essays, Maryse Condé vividly evokes the relationships and events that gave her childhood meaning: discovering her parents' feelings of alienation; her first crush; a falling out with her best friend; the death of her beloved grandmother; her first encounter with racism.

These gemlike vignettes capture the spirit of Condé's fiction: haunting, powerful, poignant, and leavened with a streak of humor. They paint a wonderful portrait of a little girl trying to find her place in the world, one that is redolent of the music and colors of the Caribbean.

Tales from the Heart is the 1999 winner of the Prix Yourcenar, awarded for excellence in French writing by an author who resides in the United States.