I was thrilled to find this book on sale at a local bookshop today. It's been on my wishlist for a good two years or more!

When an instructor of mine found out I enjoyed historical fiction, he recommended this book, and it has been on my wishlist for quite a while.

The story was heart-wrenching. The reader learns that the main character, Aminata, was stolen from her village in Africa and sold within the slave trade. She experiences the horrors of the slave ships and the brutality of plantation owners before escaping and starting work for the British by recording the names of Black Loyalists who will make the journey to Nova Scotia as free people.

I loved Aminata's voice. She was strong and intelligent, and I admired her love of books and desire for knowledge. I felt she was perhaps a little naive near the end of the novel, considering everything she'd been through she didn't question the motives of some slave traders who claimed to want to help her. It seemed slightly out of character.

I highly recommend this novel. The pacing was perfect and the characters believable. Hill includes an extensive bibliography at the end, and I always appreciate authors who dive deeply into research for a novel.

Mailed off to perryfran as a General Literature VBB selection. Enjoy!

Received in today's mail. Thanks cherryj for making this available through the General Literature VBB. I read a review of this in the Washington Post a couple of years ago and have been on the lookout for it. Hope to read it soon and pass it on.

I have had this book on my shelves for several years and regret not getting around to reading it sooner. This was really a superb novel telling the story of Aminata Diallo, an African woman who was abducted and put into slavery when she was eleven years old. Aminata is the narrator of this rather long and compelling story. She is put through the hardships of traveling out of Africa as part of a coffle of slaves for months before reaching the sea and further hardship on a slave ship. She eventually reaches South Carolina and is bought by an indigo plantation owner. She has skills as a midwife and manages to survive and to learn to read from another slave there and thus becomes sought after for her knowledge. Eventually she is bought by a Jewish indigo grader who seems kind to her but who had a hand in selling her young daughter. She makes her way to New York and is used by the British to register names in the "Book of Negroes" which allows Black Loyalists to Britain during the Revolutionary War to sail to Nova Scotia. Aminata travels with them to Nova Scotia but finds it is also full of hardships. She is constantly wanting to return to Africa and especially wants to find her husband and two children. She does eventually return to Africa but it was not what she expected and she ends up traveling to London to help in the cause of the abolitionists there.

I would highly recommend this very interesting and compelling story which is based on true events. I learned a lot about the slave trade and the atrocities committed by all those involved in it. Aminata's voice was very strong in this narrative and although the novel was long, it kept me turning the pages. This is probably the best book I have read in 2020!

Sending to BooksandMusic in Seattle...selected from the VBB. Enjoy!

Thank you for sending this book my way, it looks good.

What can I say? The British and Americans treated Africans deplorably. Africans treated Africans deplorably. The sad truth is that Africans had to participate in order for the abduction of Africans, for the purposes of slavery, to take place. Then the actions of the British and Americans once they had their hands on the slaves was awful, hard to face how horrible it was. I was overwhelmed by the sadness of it. Some people are strong and they live through every degradation and act of violence against them. The fictional character in this book, a woman abducted at age eleven, is one such. The story is well written, interesting and heartbreaking.