"Highly original debut novel which uses a timeslip device to illuminate the legacy of slavery"
At once a thrilling historical adventure, a harrowing account of life on a brutal Barbados plantation for our heroine Obah and an excoriating examination of the legacy of slavery on our society today.
Both how far we have come in a technological sense and yet how little progress has been made in terms of equality or reparation. This is achieved through the clever use of a timeslip device which links the plantation to its wealthy owner’s heirs living in the UK today. Descendants who wish to make amends and think they can do so by rescuing Obah from life in 1834 and bringing her to the twenty-first century. This may not have been the first intention of Jacob when he travels to the past in order to understand the family legacy, but he cannot stand by and leave her at the hands of the brutal overseer.
We then skilfully get to see our society through Obah’s eyes, and her confusion and dismay is both amusing and shocking. Obah gets to witness racism and injustice and we can all see why she chooses to return to lead a slave rebellion in her own time. Obah’s voice just leaps off the page and the reader is gripped from the first sentence.
Both worlds are vividly and convincingly evoked as is the logic of the timeslip device. A really thought-provoking novel that will inspire lots of valuable discussion around important themes of equality and justice and will be a really valuable addition to any school library.
