Détails du document

Impression et sauvegarde

Livre

The Book of Negroes

Date

2007

Auteurs

Lawrence Hill

Résumé

Abducted as an 11-year-old child from her village in West Africa and forced to walk for months to the sea in a coffle—a string of slaves— Aminata Diallo is sent to live as a slave in South Carolina. But years later, she forges her way to freedom, serving the British in the Revolutionary War and registering her name in the historic “Book of Negroes.” This book, an actual document, provides a short but immensely revealing record of freed Loyalist slaves who requested permission to leave the US for resettlement in Nova Scotia, only to find that the haven they sought was steeped in an oppression all of its own.

Aminata’s eventual return to Sierra Leone—passing ships carrying thousands of slaves bound for America—is an engrossing account of an obscure but important chapter in history that saw 1,200 former slaves embark on a harrowing back-to-Africa odyssey. Lawrence Hill is a master at transforming the neglected corners of history into brilliant imaginings, as engaging and revealing as only the best historical fiction can be. A sweeping story that transports the reader from a tribal African village to a plantation in the southern United States, from the teeming Halifax docks to the manor houses of London, The Book of Negroes introduces one of the strongest female characters in recent Canadian fiction, one who cuts a swath through a world hostile to her colour and her sex.

Number of pages

486

Lieu de publication

United States

Éditeur

HaperCollins Publishers Ltd

Groupes cibles

Sensibilisation du public

Pertinence géographique

Amérique du Nord, Canada, États-Unis, Ontario, Alberta, México, Manitoba, Quebec, Colombie-Britannique, Autres provinces, Fédéral, Afrique du Sud, Nouvelle-Écosse, Regional relevance et National relevance

Sphères d’activité

Histoire

Langues

Anglais