The haunting rhythms of native Batá drums and the dark mysteries of Santeria cast a spell over newspaper reporter Mac McKinney as he uncovers the 200-year Saga of African princess and Santeria priestess, Congo Julia.Taken violently from her home village in the Congo by Spanish slave traders and transported on a ship of human misery, Congo Julia survives and grows while working at the Estanoz tobacco plantation in Colonial Cuba.In 1858, her saga takes her to Key West, a rough but burgeoning town of seafaring wreckers, spongers and cigar houses.Now, though long dead, Congo Julia is pursued by ghosts from her past and reporters from her future-as her saga carries her home.