Eleanor Shearer

Set in the Caribbean islands of Barbados, British Guiana and Trinidad in 1834 just after the declaration of the abolition of slavery, this is the story of one woman’s journey to find her children who were so cruelly taken from her.

I enjoyed this moving story of love and hope set amidst the brutality and inhumanity of the time of the slave trade. The research gone into putting this tale together is excellent. It’s well written and the descriptions of the various backdrops are very vivid. show more It is quite a slow burner, though, and I found the story somewhat meandering as we travel alongside the main character during her search for her family. A little like the River Demerara the characters are following throughout some of their plight. Overall, however, it’s a gripping and enlightening read about a disgraceful part of the world’s history, a worthy debut. It’s a story that needs to be told. A journey of education and illumination. show less

This is one of the first books I’ve read in 2023 and I’ve no doubt I won’t read another as achingly beautiful – and brutal - this year.
Author Eleanor Shearer takes us on a journey for thousands of kilometres around the Caribbean, a journey inspired by her memories of visiting the island of St Lucia when she was just 11.
It’s the story of Rachel, a slave in the 1830s on a sugarcane plantation. Like most female slaves she became pregnant many times. And like all slaves who became show more mothers, she turned her head when a baby was born, refusing to meet its eyes because she knew loss was the only certainty in her life.
Rachel flees the plantation and begins a year-long journey to try to track down the sons and daughters stolen from her. It’s a tender tale of courage and loss, of love and fear.
Most importantly, as the author says, it’s a story that’s not afraid to confront the worst horrors of slavery and colonialism, but at its heart it’s a story about freedom and, most importantly, love. show less

Haunting and painfully beautiful. Hope hurts. A mother flees the plantation where she is still essentially enslaved despite slavery legally "ending" in the Caribbean. She is in search of her children who were torn from her over the years, having been sold to other enslavers. She had 11 children in all, but only five lived long enough to be sold away from her. This is an amazing tale of a mother's journey to find her children and make sure they know her love. It is about how everyone finds show more freedom a little differently, and about the brutal hope that lives on if you can make peace with the pain that comes with it. show less

Wow. This was breathtaking. Once again, I am amazed by this being a debut novel. Shearer brings such nuance and impressive writing, that it is hard to believe this is the first one she has written - it is just so well done.

When Rachel, on her plantation in Barbados, learns of her freedom she is ecstatic. Until she realizes that this freedom is yet another name for captivity. And so, she runs. Where and why, she initially doesn’t know. But then she realizes - she has to find her children. show more As a mother, I cannot fathom the depths of Rachel’s pain - the amount of children she had and then the five that were sold. This is the story of Rachel learning who she is outside of captivity, while also reaching into her past to find her missing children. It is redemptive and utterly beautiful. I cannot recommend enough. show less