The Book of Negroes

As a walking tour of a particular era in the Atlantic slave trade this is a very good book. The degree of awfulness on the part of participants in the slave industry is unfathomable, and the degree of incomprehension, hypocrisy, and wilful ignorance on the part of “civilized” beneficiaries of the slave industry is uncomfortably close to home in a world where Chinese labour toiling under conditions that are not at times very far from slavery dominates the world's productive capacity.

The book is very descriptive. This was probably a wise choice on the part of the author: really inhabiting the lived sensations of the narrator would have made almost impossible reading, but I still wish some of the scenes were more visceral in their impact. I felt like I was seeing into the past, but not inhabiting it in the way some historical fiction manages to achieve (read the opening chapter of Patricia Finney's “The Firedrake's Eye” and you'll know how it feels to come awake lying in an Elizabethan gutter, for example.)

Events are at times too clearly a result of the need to move the characters across the landscape and through time in a particular way, which makes them predictable, which also reduces the emotional impact of their eventual resolution.

But still: a solid, well-researched, and readable historical novel that covers the trans-Atlantic slave industry extremely well.

Normally, for me a five star book is one that I rush through and can't put down. Not in this case, Aminata had to be savoured. She stands for the many Africans who were abducted from their homes, treated like animals, killed, raped, sold, escaped, recaptured, freed and lied to. It is a miracle that anyone could physically survive that let alone still have all their faculties intact. A dreadful period of our history which seems to be made up of horrific events.

Never a huge fan of historical fiction I picked this one up to the recommendations of friends. Compelling read, Aminata Diallo is still an entirely accessible character with a clear voice. Highly recommend.

Reading Aminata Diallo's autobiography reminds me of reading Frederick Douglass earlier this year: stories of horror, atrocity, perseverance, strength, disappointment, hope, and sobering reality that tell us much about the experience of the solace, but even more about the inhumanity of the slave trade and how we were all complicit in its continuing effects. Hill's notes, acknowledgments, and further reading lists that close the book are well-worth diving into and will serve as fodder for my reading lists to come.

(originally published on inthemargins.ca)

I really enjoyed this novel a lot, written by a Canadian author, and based on “The Book of Negroes” which is a historical document that contains the names and descriptions of 3,000 men, women, and children who served the British during the American Revolutionary War and still survives to this day, it makes for a very compelling, powerful and interesting read. Though some of the book is similar to other stories about slavery and the slave trade, the Canadian connection was new to me, so I found that to be especially interesting as I myself am a Canadian. A well researched and well written novel that brings fact and fiction together into one amazing read!

The Book of Negroes is a historical fiction that tells the story of a 11yr old African Gril abducted from her home in Africa and shipped to America as a slave and follows her through several decades and relates her expierences

Meena's story is one of tragedy, terror and loss. Sold as slave and torn from her home and family In africa in the mid 1700s. This story is not for the faint of heart and contains many trigger warnings and deals wtih subject that as they say on TV warnings, offensive to some readers

I learned alot reading this book, including some history of Canada that I did not previous know and found myself google searching different places and evenst as they relate to the story within history. IE I did not previous know about the Race Riots in nova scotia in the late 1700s and Canada's (then a british colony not a independent nation) role in Slave trade.

Other things I learned were about Freetown Sierra Leone in Africa and how it came to be as part of tha abolistionist movement

I love when I can learn something new and this story driven by heartache, compassion and a character driven narrative I found I could not help but come to love and while I am mostly a fan of scifi and fanasy and this is historical fiction I do not hestiate to say this wll go down as one of the best reads of 2024