“I might have been ten, eleven years old - I cannot say for certain - when my first master died.”
And so opens a story, set between 1830 and 1836, that Esi Edugyan tells through the eyes and heart of eighteen year old George Washington Black, the name he was given by his first master.
George Washington Black was told he was born in the hold of a slave ship on the passage to America. Wash, the name he was known by, remembers at about age five, when he was ‘rescued’ by Big Kit. Big Kit, a fierce slave on Faith Plantation in Barbados and the only home he had known, saved him from the brutality of another slave. Wash carries Big Kit in his heart throughout this beautifully written novel, despite being separated from her by the many strange and intricate events that carry him away from the cruelty of Faith Plantation. Erasmus Wilde, takes over his deceased uncle’s plantation with cruelty and malice. Titch, Erasmus’ brother, a scientist and covert abolitionist, spirits Wash away by hot air balloon (Cloud-cutter) from Faith Plantation to cross the United States, Canada and the Arctic to escape his brother’s wrath. A wrath that boiled when Wash escaped 'blame' for Erasmus' cousin Philip's suicide. This at a time of extreme racism and slavery. In a few short years, Wash had to become literate, a house boy and scientific assistant. In assisting Titch, he discovered a skill for drawing the biological minutiae of Titch’s scientific explorations which was to become a mainstay for Wash's life.
Unable to attend September’s book club discussion, I have spent a couple of hours reading reviews on line. I’ve also spoken with some of my group regarding their apparently lively discussions about Esi Edugyan’s fascinating novel. My personal fascination with the novel is the intense fear, and often terror, that shadowed Wash throughout his life because his early life of cruelty, brutality and the crushing work of a field hand. His supposed and very confusing ‘freedom’ when his travels take him country to country did little to ease his fears. Wash was always at the mercy of that fear which gives shape to his story, whether in the Arctic with Titch or in Morocco seeking Titch, Wash was never certain who or when he could trust. This book I am reading again to follow with interest the winding path that Washington Black travels just because he was born into slavery ~ always at the bidding of any white man or woman.
“We must all take on faith the stories of our birth, for
though we are in them, we are not yet present.”
~ Esi Edugyan, Washington Black
Title: Washington Black
Author: Esi Edugyan
Copyright: 2018 by Ides of March, Inc.
Publisher : Patrick Crean Editions, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
Format: Soft cover
Type: Novel
ISBN: 978-1-4434-5958-7
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