Tonight, by Sea is a book written by Frances Temple

Frances Temple

Frances Temple was a primary school teacher, a writer of award-winning children's stories and young adult novels and an illustrator. She was born August 15, 1945 in Washington, District of Columbia. She grew up in Virginia, France, and Vietnam...

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Plot details

Paulie does not want to leave Haiti, the only
home she has ever known, but the macoutes
are threatening her family and the village Belle Flueve with guns and
knives. This compelling and informative story
about a family’s dramatic escape from Haiti by
sea also shows the political and economic
issues involved.
Paulie lives in Haiti with her Grann and her
uncle, the village coffin maker who has turned
his skills to boat building to escape the
brutality and starvation that has taken over his
homeland. Paulie and other neighbors help with
the clandestine project. Pauli wants to stay and
fight; she wants to tell a reporter from Miami
what it is really like in Haiti. But Jean-Desir did
that and he is dead. And now the macoutes are
coming with their guns and knives, they are
coming to take the boat, Seek Life. And so
Pauli and her family put to sea, to seek safety,
to seek freedom, to seek life.
Seek life. Chache Lavi. That's what Paulie's
uncle says they must do. But to seek life,
Paulie and her family have to leave Haiti-the
only home that Paulie has ever known. Since
forever, Paulie has run in and out of the little
houses nestled under the palms, smelling
cocoa-bread and playing on the beach with her
best friend Karyl. But now the little houses are
gone. Their wood has been made into a boat
used to escape Haiti.
Paulie wants to stay and fight-to change Haiti
into a better place to live. She wants to talk to
the reporters and bravely tell the truth, like
Karyl's brother, Jean-Desir. But the macoutes
come with their guns and knives to stop them.
And they do something so terrible that Paulie
must face the truth: before the soldiers come
back, they must all leave-tonight, by sea.