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An excellent book that shatters my book club's previous theory that a man cannot write a female character really well. Mr. Hill does a superb job of giving voice to Aminata Diallo, an eleven-year-old girl captured and sold into slavery in the American South. Following her through-out a long lifetime, we see her endure and, eventually, gain her freedom and return to the continent of her birth, only to leave it again by choice. I learned a good bit about Revolutionary War America from a new perspective. Previous to this book, I had never even heard of the "Black Loyalists," much less what happened to them when the British departed the newly-minted United States. (And since I note that Mr. Hill lives in Ontario, Canada, I wonder if he might be a descendent?)At any rate, I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys well-researched historical fiction. And since this book's Goodreads rating is above 4.0 after more than 33,000 ratings, apparently a lot of other people do, too!
This is a brutal, but beautiful story of Meena and her struggle through slavery and the escape to Freedom. While this story is a fictional account, the details and writing is so expressive that I felt the whole time that it was real. The events of course are real and the author did great research in doing this topic justice. My only criticism is the end when she is traveling back to Bayo and the men taking her plan to put her back in the slave trade. It was nearing the end of the novel and it seemed rushed and a flash in the pan. I would have preferred her to go and find nothing or for circumstances to prevent her from going in the first place. Overall, it is a great story and I would definitely recommend it.
loved the thrill of being in the book along the characters myself
Fantastic.
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