Share this review
River Sing Me Home
By Eleanor Shearer
Published by Hachette Australia
ISBN 9781472291370
Based on true events, set in the early to mid-1700s this moving story follows the life of Rachel, a slave who becomes a runaway in Barbados. She risks her life to look for her children who were so cruelly and typical of the times, ripped away from her and sold off into slavery in their childhood and early teen years.
The author, Eleanor Shearer is a descendent of the Windrush immigration to the UK and of family who where slaves.
It is beautifully descriptive, using dialect of the times when in the voice of Rachel and those around her. At first it is strange to read, but it is appropriate and gets one into the mood of the story.
You can feel heartbreak of a mother who has all her children taken from her or lost in childbirth. It expresses the cruelty of the slave traders, the slave owners and the masters or foreman. Reading this makes me wonder how these people managed to survive in such perilous circumstances. But far from a story of total misery it is one of resilience, determination, love and care for others.
Rachel manages to escape the plantation named Providence on Barbados and make her way to the other side of the island where she encounters the kind and caring Mama B who although not a birth mother, is a mother to many. They have all taken immense risk to make their dangerous journeys in search of freedom. Mama B makes a lasting impression on Rachel the scared and quiet runaway. Mama B shows her how to forage for food and medicinal plants and although she will miss Rachel encourages her to go and find her children.
Their initial journey is also spent hiding in the forests to get to Bridgetown for fear of being seen by overseers or foreman out hunting for runaways. If caught they would be whipped or shot or both. After walking for many hours and overnight, stopping in the forest where Rachel and Mama B meet up with Mama B's brother she eventually makes it Bridgetown and to a woman, aptly named Hope that maybe able to help. To Rachel's surprise this woman, a former slave, lives in a nice home, wears good clothes, thanks to her unacceptable in society chosen profession.
In Bridgetown Rachel finds Mr and Mrs Amstrong's busy shop that sells beautiful fabrics and clothing made by Mrs Armstrong, where to her surprise and gratitude they offer her and her mute daughter Mary Grace a job. Mrs Armstrong, a fine seamstress was also once a slave, while Mr Armstrong was born free. Mrs Armstrong takes Rachel and Mary Grace under her wing.
Encouraged by finding her daughte, Rachel is determined to find all her children. Micah her first born son, Thomas Augustus and Cherry Jane. She knows that they have been sold to plantations on other Caribbean islands.
Fear is her constant companion. Fear of being spotted by the cruel red-headed foreman from Providence who is looking for her in Bridgetown and would gladly drag her back to the plantation is always there. But kindness comes from unexpected quarters, even a beggar on the streets and a man called Nobody and an indigenous child Nuno with his own sad story who finds a better life along the journey with Rachel.
The law eventually declares the abolition of slavery but they are not free.They simply become apprentices who are compelled to work in the cane fields of the Caribbean islands. The group travel to Trinidad and then to the Demerara River in search of the other children.
As we turn the pages the story becomes more intriguing with lengthy descriptions of their surroundings as the journey along the river, the forests and towns, making it easy to picture the mind's eye. At times I found the story a little slow moving, but perhaps that is because I was curious to find out if Rachel found all her children.
While reading this book I thought this would make a good movie.
The author
Eleanor Shearer is a mixed-race writer and the granddaughter of Windrush generation immigrants. For her Master's degree in Politics at the University of Oxford, Eleanor studied the legacy of slavery and the case for reparations. Her fieldwork was in St. Lucia and Barbados. The inspiration for River Sing Me Home came to Eleanor after she discovered a tiny footnote in an exhibition she was attending about the Windrush
This is independent review, I am not paid by the publishers, so.If you Liked this review, Buy me a coffee
