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The book of Negroes

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.

Book  - 2009
FIC Hill
1 copy / 0 on hold

Available Copies by Location

Location
Victoria Available
  • ISBN: 1554686954
  • ISBN: 9781554686957
  • Physical Description xv, 509 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), maps (chiefly color)
  • Edition Illustrated ed.
  • Publisher Toronto : HarperCollins, 2009.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 495-500).
Immediate Source of Acquisition Note:
LSC 19.99
Awards Note:
Canada Reads winner, 2009.

Additional Information

Syndetic Solutions - Summary for ISBN Number 1554686954
The Book of Negroes
The Book of Negroes
by Hill, Lawrence
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Summary

The Book of Negroes


Contains extra content -- insights, interviews and more Lawrence Hill's nationally bestselling novel has garnered praise and awards around the world. The Book of Negroes has won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and CBC Canada Reads, among many others. Lawrence Hill--and his remarkable character Aminata Diallo--have become household names throughout Canada. Readers will follow the story of Aminata, an unforgettable heroine who cut a swath through an 18th-century world hostile to her colour and her sex. Abducted as an eleven-year-old child from her village in West Africa and put to work on an indigo plantation on the sea islands of South Carolina, Aminata survives by using midwifery skills learned at her mother's side, and by drawing on a strength of character inherited from both parents. Eventually, she has the chance to register her name in the "Book of Negroes," a historic British military ledger allowing 3,000 Black Loyalists passage on ships sailing from Manhattan to Nova Scotia. This remarkable novel transports the reader from an African village to a plantation in the southern United States, from a soured refuge in Nova Scotia to the coast of Sierra Leone, in a back-to-Africa odyssey of 1,200 former slaves. Bringing vividly to life one of the strongest female characters in recent fiction, Lawrence Hill's remarkable novel has become a Canadian classic.