Lalita Tademy used the pages of this work as a forum for presenting her progenitors as "tragic mulattoes," carefully presenting their male "companions" as men taking advantage of their "possessions." To cover her tracks, Tademy chose to leave out dates to allow researchers to reconstruct her "search" which also included the changing to names to fit her agenda. Even a work of fiction based on fact should have validity for recreating the truth behind the fiction.