Aminata Diallo is eleven when slavers seize her from her village in West Africa and force her across the Atlantic. Told in her own voice as an old woman in London, the novel follows her through a South Carolina indigo plantation, the chaos of Manhattan during the American Revolution, and a resettlement in Nova Scotia. The title refers to the real British ledger that recorded Black Loyalists permitted to leave New York in 1783, and Aminata's skill at reading, writing, and keeping records carries her through each stage.
Readers of historical fiction who want slavery and the Black Loyalist migration told through one vivid survivor will find it absorbing. It also fills a gap for those who know little about the Canadian and Sierra Leonean chapters of this history.
Thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Story Seeker. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2007
- Language
- EN
