Jungle of Ashes
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| Publisher | History Through Fiction |
| Publication | May 19, 2026 |
| Format | Paperback/Softback |
| ISBN | 978-1963452341 |
| Pages | 390 |
| Age | 18 - 99 |
| Price | $22.95 |
Jungle of Ashes
A sweeping tale of ambition, resistance, and impossible love set in Henry Ford’s ill-fated rubber empire in the Amazon.
In 1928, industrial titan Henry Ford launched Fordlandia, a factory-town carved from the Brazilian rainforest in a bold attempt to control the global rubber trade. What was meant to be a triumph of American industry quickly unraveled into exploitation, cultural conflict, and ecological disaster.
Seventeen-year-old Joanna Rogge is uprooted from Michigan when her father accepts a management post at the plantation. Longing to escape the narrow expectations of American society, Joanna is both captivated and unsettled by the jungle—and by Rafael Caetano, a Brazilian mechanic determined to claim a future beyond the limits imposed on him.
As disease spreads, tensions mount, and unrest threatens to boil over, Joanna and Rafael are drawn into a forbidden romance that defies class, culture, and corporate rule. When revolution and repression collide, they must choose between safety and truth, duty and desire, survival and love.
From Brynn Barineau, the award-nominated author of Jaguars and Other Game, Jungle of Ashes is a powerful portrait of a doomed utopia and the human cost of empire.
Perfect for fans of richly researched historical fiction, cross-cultural love stories, and novels like The Poisonwood Bible, State of Wonder, and The Night Tiger.Reviews, Awards & Endorsements
Endorsements
"Barineau transports readers into the suffocating heat and thick, green breath of the Amazon, where an American dream is hacked from the jungle one sapling at a time. In Jungle of Ashes, the burning haze of tropical heat, dangers unseen, and the weight of corporate expectation converge in a place never meant to bend to anyone’s will. Even Henry Ford’s. An immersive story of resilience and love in a world both breathtaking and brutal."
– Jillian Forsberg, Author of THE RHINO KEEPER and THE PORCELAIN MENAGERIE
“Deep in the Amazon, where nature resists all taming, social and cultural boundaries are challenged and breached—to unexpected outcomes. A tropical tale of ambition, hope, love, and despair, Jungle of Ashes imagines the entangled lives of Fordlandia (1928-1945), an ill-wrought experiment in corporate control. From the Upper Peninsula in Michigan to the heart of Brazilian rainforest, Barineau’s character-driven story, rich with sensory detail, captures well the human and natural experience. Historical fiction at its finest, every page is an unforgettable adventure.”
– Suzanne Litrel, author of THE BATTLE FOR BRAZIL: RESISTANCE, RENEWAL, AND THE WAR AGAINST THE DUTCH, 1580–1654
"Deeply-researched and endlessly layered, Jungle of Ashes brings Ford's doomed enterprise and the 1920s Brazilian rainforest so intensely to life, I could feel the sweat on my skin and hear the lap of the Amazon against its muddy banks. Joanna Rogge is my favorite kind of heroine: curious and real, with a spine of steel. Joanna and Rafa are a pair of lovers so exciting, you can't help but root for them against all odds.”
– Katherine Scott Crawford, author of THE MINIATURIST’S ASSISTANT
“An epic historical and a powerful love story, Jungle of Ashes intricately traces the connections by which we define ourselves. Love, family, community, culture, economics, ecology. Brynn Barineau has written a gripping page-turner and a deeply human critique of the doomed industrial experiment of Fordlândia and corporate attempts to exploit the natural world.”
—Mary McMyne, author of THE BOOK OF GOTHEL and A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME