Set in the aftermath of the 1833 Slavery Abolition Act in the Caribbean, the story follows Rachel, a field hand on a Barbados plantation. When the master declares his workers will remain bound as apprentices for years longer, Rachel flees to find the five children taken from her and sold across the islands colonial borders. She travels from the cane fields of Barbados to the forests of British Guiana and the sea-soaked coasts of Trinidad, tracking down Mary Grace, Micah, Cherry Jane, Mercy, and Augustus to see if they survived.
Readers interested in the logistics of the post-emancipation era and the geography of the nineteenth-century Caribbean will find a detailed account of how displaced families attempted to reunite. It suits those who prefer historical fiction centered on maternal agency and the specific legal realities of the apprenticeship system. The reader gains a clear map of how freedom was physically pursued through dense terrain and maritime borders during a period of massive social restructuring.
- Published
- 2023
- Language
- EN
