In Fire in the Canes , Glenville Lovell`s first novel, it is 1894 and slavery has been abolished. On this Caribbean island, however, the sugar cane plantation is still the social, economic, and political center. Slaves have become tenant workers, slave-owners are still land-holders, and the mysterious Peata and her daughter Midra return to the island. Prince Johnson, a Robin Hood-like figure, fascinates both the women, but chooses Midra as his lover, the one who will see the mask carved by his ancestor, and the one who will bear his child.