In the year 2000, Rede Globo, renowned for elaborate and internationally consumed telenovela productions, celebrated Brazil's quincentennial anniversary with the highly successful television series A Muralha. The period piece recounts the hegemonic momentum forged by overzealous explorers and Jesuit priests upon encountering the terrain's native populations, as well as the physically and mentally taxing reality of the geographical protagonist: the sertão, the massive backlands of northeastern Brazil, a topography with a relentless dearth of rainfall and subsequent drought. The explorers, clothed in restrictive armor, accompanied by a handful of female protagonists whose cumbersome, mud-covered dresses prove impractical, face numerous challenges that highlight the gritty physical demands the geography places upon those seeking to survive within it.

Frances de Pontes Peebles was born in Pernambuco, Brazil, and though raised in Miami, Florida, her novels foreground the historical settings of the land of her birth. The novelist, who thoroughly researches the historical backgrounds of her works, acknowledges the overarching stereotypes involving her birthplace:

Her first novel, The Seamstress (2009), breaks with these tropes and instead revisits the sertão, focusing on the early twentieth century when cangaceiros, bands of poor peasants, roamed the backlands, exhibiting an anti-government stance to the ignored social plights of the region's inhabitants.