RIVER SING ME HOME by Eleanor Shearer - Review

 


RIVER SING ME HOME (Berkley) by Eleanor Shearer is inspired by the true stories of the brave woman who went looking for their stolen children after the abolition of slavery in 1834. It's hard to believe its a debut novel, because Shearer's prose and narrative are so powerful and complex. River Sing Me Home is the story of Rachel, a woman slave who has given birth repeatedly and had five children survive only to be taken away and sold. 

The British King declares the Emancipation Act effectively ending slavery, but the plantation owners announce they are now apprentices and have to work on the plantation for six more years. It's at this point Rachel decides to run and search for her five children. She doesn't know if any of them are alive, but she is driven by the fact, a mother cannot be free without knowing what has become of her children.

She begins her dangerous journey in Barbados, then on a river deep in the forest of British Giana and finally across the sea to Trinidad. She's always aware that she is technically not free, she's being hunted and if found can be taken back as a slave at any time.

River Sing Me Home is Rachel's extraordinary story to find out what happened to Mary Grace, Micah, Thomas Augustus, Cherry Jane and Mercy. It is the deeply brutal and moving story of the astonishing lengths a mother will go to  find her children... and her freedom. 

I love reading historical fiction, respect history and I'm grateful to have learned about this time in the past. From the beginning of the book I was thrust into Rachel's dangerous journey. River Sing Me Home is a fearless, hopeful, and loving read. I often found myself holding my breath during her search. Thank you BookBrowse, Netgalley and Berkley for providing an early copy of this novel, which will be published January 31st, 2023.


Eleanor Shearer is a mixed race writer from the UK. She splits her time between London and Ramsgate on the coast of Kent, so that she never has to go too long without seeing the sea.

As the granddaughter of Caribbean immigrants who came to the UK as part of the Windrush Generation, Eleanor has always been drawn to Caribbean history.  

The novel draws on her time spent in the Caribbean, visiting family in St Lucia and Barbados. It was also informed by her Master's degree in Politics, where she focused on how slavery is remembered on the islands today. She travelled to the Caribbean and interviewed activists, historians and family members, and their reflections on what it really means to be free made her more determined than ever to bring the hidden stories of slavery to light.

https://EleanorShearer.com

Thank you to BookBrowse Berkley and Netgalley for gifting me an early copy of RIVER SING ME HOME.

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