“Under the sweltry canopy of the most fragrant pepas de oro, the golden seeds of cacao, I tasted the pleasure—and understood the tragic and fortunate paradox that has always been chocolate.”

In this magnificently researched and illustrated book, international award-winning author Connie Spenuzza masterfully explores the cultural history of the women within the world of chocolate. As a child, Spenuzza frolicked in her family’s pristine equatorial rainforest cacao plantations, not yet knowing the intricacies of culture and history that surrounded women’s roles in an industry as luscious as chocolate. But these early years piqued her curiosity and spurred decades of extensive travel that would take Spenuzza to places such as the archaeological sites of Mesoamerica, where chocolate reached its apex as a ritual beverage. Armed with a novelist’s eye for human frailties and an investigator’s nose for hidden truths, Spenuzza exquisitely guides you on the illuminating journey across the globe to uncover the 5,300-year-old history of the women who dedicated their lives to the world’s most coveted indulgence.