In Seraphin Stone: Say Yes to Heaven, Ettenig Sayam delivers an enthralling coming-of-age story of Marie Ange "Mari" Seraphin. She is an exceptional Haitian-American ballerina who meets thirty-one-year-old David Stone, a corporate executive. Starting with an assault on Newport’s Cliff Walk, the story follows Mari’s evolution from a wannabe dance student facing the racial barriers of classical ballet to a young woman torn between a spiritual destiny and her earthly ambition. Her relationship with David deepens as they travel across Europe, experiencing the thermal springs in Santorini and the English stone circles. All along, Mari is being guided by the Supreme Being, the Bondye, and his servant spirit, the guardian of the realm between Heaven and Earth. What happens when Mari discovers that she is a chosen vessel, a “reklamé” that sits between the Afro-Caribbean loa and the human world?

Seraphin Stone is a tale of love and magic, and a young woman faced with difficult choices. The suspense in this story is driven by the uncertainty over which choice she will make and what happens to the other deep desires of her heart. I wanted to see if she could accept her gift and step fully into the voodoo world. The author paints a magical world of Caribbean lore with characters that have extraordinary gifts. The setting in Boston is designed to show the competitive nature of the ballet studios, yet the spiritual landscapes of Haiti are enthralling in the same way that the mystical worlds inhabited by La Sirène and Papa Legba are exciting to navigate. Ettenig Sayam has delivered a story that is full of magical realism, exemplified through the spirits who intervene in Mari’s life. The plot hurtles steadily toward a finale that is delivered in a decisive moment of negotiation.

Seraphin Stone: Say Yes to Heaven by Ettenig Sayam is a love story that is both mystical and highly realistic. Marie Ange Sophia Seraphin is a young ballet dancer growing up in Boston in the mid-2000s. On the cusp of leaving school, she has almost too many choices about what to do next with her multifaceted talents. Her Haitian heritage is her strength but also a pretext for discrimination, especially in the ruthless world of preprofessional ballet training. David Stone is a typical product of the privilege of his times, looking for something meaningful to do with his life. Their lives are completely different, but something keeps bringing them together. From Boston to Paris to the Åland Islands to Greece and Switzerland, their bond becomes stronger as they try to define their relationship and their future. 

Seraphin Stone: Say Yes to Heaven is about growing up and finding love and a shared destiny. Ettenig Sayam tells an entrancing tale that weaves through the different worlds of ballet school, family gatherings, boardrooms, and exotic locales in Europe. The scenes with family and friends in different cultures - Haitian, New England, Danish, and Swiss - are depicted insightfully. I found it striking and appropriate that the author does not treat the book as an interracial romance, even though, objectively, it might be described as such. This bears out the essential truth underlying the story that when two people are brought together by destiny, with a little help from benevolent Haitian spirits, categories such as race, religion, language, nationality, etc., are meaningless. I loved the book. Highly recommended.