Washington Black by Esi Edugyan

 

Washington Black by Esi Edugyan

"Edugyan's newest book is spectacular. Washington Black is a young slave from an English sugar plantation, who escapes the horrors of that life and travels all over the world.  This is an exciting adventure story, but not far beneath the surface lies a moving, thought-provoking, and incredibly well written story about the meaning of freedom and how the relationships we build early on inform our whole lives.  Washington's is a voice that will stick with you for a long time "  - Recommended by Wayne
Staff Pick Badge
Washington Black: A novel By Esi Edugyan Cover Image
$26.95
ISBN: 9780525521426
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Knopf - September 18th, 2018

George Washington Black, or "Wash," an eleven-year-old field slave on a Barbados sugar plantation, is terrified to be chosen by his master's brother as his manservant. To his surprise, the eccentric Christopher Wilde turns out to be a naturalist, explorer, inventor, and abolitionist. Soon Wash is initiated into a world where a flying machine can carry a man across the sky, where even a boy born in chains may embrace a life of dignity and meaning--and where two people, separated by an impossible divide, can begin to see each other as human. But when a man is killed and a bounty is placed on Wash's head, Christopher and Wash must abandon everything. What follows is their flight along the eastern coast of America, and, finally, to a remote outpost in the Arctic. What brings Christopher and Wash together will tear them apart, propelling Wash even further across the globe in search of his true self. From the blistering cane fields of the Caribbean to the frozen Far North, from the earliest aquariums of London to the eerie deserts of Morocco, Washington Black tells a story of self-invention and betrayal, of love and redemption, of a world destroyed and made whole again, and asks the question, What is true freedom?