The Book of Negroes
by Lawrence Hill
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Fiction. African American Fiction. Literature. Historical Fiction. HTML:Aminata Diallo (“an amazing literary creation,” Literary Review of Canada) is the beguiling heroine of Lawrence Hill’s SOMEONE KNOWS MY NAME. In it, Hill exquisitely imagines the tale of an eighteenth-century woman’s life, spanning six decades and three continents. The fascinating story that Hill tells is a work of the soul and the imagination. Aminata is a character who will stir listeners, from her show more kidnapping from Africa through her journeys back and forth across the ocean.Enslaved on a South Carolina plantation, Aminata works in the indigo fields and as a midwife. When she is bought by an entrepreneur from Charleston, she is torn from friends and family. The chaos of the Revolutionary War allows her to escape. In British-held Manhattan, she helps pen the Book of Negroes, a list of blacks rewarded for wartime service to the King with safe passage to Nova Scotia. During her travels in Canada, Sierra Leone, and England, Aminata strives for her freedom and that of her people–even when it comes at a price.
In this captivating novel, Hill portrays one woman’s remarkable spirit and strength in the face of adversity, and he brings to life crucial and little-known chapters in world history. show less
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Member Recommendations
Bcteagirl The book has a similar familial tone and is also told from the point of view of young girls growing up in a difficult situation. I had been looking for a book with a similar writing style and was happy to find this one. If you liked The Book of Negroes I recommend The Poisonwood Bible and vice versa.
74
_Lana_ If you enjoyed reading about slavery in a historical setting you might be interested in a true-tale of slavery’s modern form. Both books also have strong female protagonists.
Epic Journeys of Freedom: Runaway Slaves of the American Revolution and Their Global Quest for Liberty by Cassandra Pybus
susanbooks Pybus offers a brilliant nonfiction account of the events in Hill's novel, as well as extending the story to penal colonies in Australia.
Member Reviews
As a lover of historical fiction, this is one of my all time best reads. The character of Aminata is so believable as she develops from a scared naive child ruthlessly captured in Africa to the wise literate woman who understands to "beware of the clever man who makes wrong look right."
Although the wrongs of slavery and the slave trade are vividly portrayed, this book also makes one aware of how complicated life actually is. Aminata's journey back to Sierra Leone and her experiences there present a view of the slave trade rarely portrayed. Several others have summarized the book so I won't repeat.
This book is well-written without gratuitous violence or sex even though it was an extremely violent time and sex was such a tool of power. show more The characters (even the minor ones) are believable and easily come alive throughout the story. The story has obviously been well researched and I appreciated the notes and acknowledgements at the end as well as the chapter titles which always enticed me to read one more chapter even if I had something else that needed to be done.
This is a wonderful, beautiful book and I highly recommend it. show less
Although the wrongs of slavery and the slave trade are vividly portrayed, this book also makes one aware of how complicated life actually is. Aminata's journey back to Sierra Leone and her experiences there present a view of the slave trade rarely portrayed. Several others have summarized the book so I won't repeat.
This book is well-written without gratuitous violence or sex even though it was an extremely violent time and sex was such a tool of power. show more The characters (even the minor ones) are believable and easily come alive throughout the story. The story has obviously been well researched and I appreciated the notes and acknowledgements at the end as well as the chapter titles which always enticed me to read one more chapter even if I had something else that needed to be done.
This is a wonderful, beautiful book and I highly recommend it. show less
Aminata Diallo is only eleven years old when she sees her parents killed as she is being kidnapped by African slave traders. In first person narrative, an elderly Aminata (known as Meena) looks back on five decades of her life while writing her life story.
After her capture, Meena is forced to march across the continent with other captured Africans where she is put on a slave ship to South Carolina. The treatment these people endured was barbarous and many people died on the journey. It's a particularly painful section of the book to read. After a number of years her journey will take her to New York and eventually to Nova Scotia, Canada where she becomes a free woman. Throughout her life her one abiding goal is to return to the village show more she loved in Africa. Even though tragedy and cruelty are common in her life, Meena's strength of character and ability to make the best of a bad life make this a mesmerizing story.
Although this book is a work of fiction, the amount of research done is exceptional. The author acknowledges that he used real people as the basis for many of the characters in the story. Much of the story is based on historical events including the original title, The Book of Negroes. The Book of Negroes was a ledger in which the names of African-Americans who, because of their service to the British Loyalists during the American Revolution, were given passage to Canada on British ships. This novel deals with several aspects of African-American history that I was unfamiliar with, including the Loyalist slaves and the establishment of Freetown, Sierra Leone. The book also focuses on the horrors of slavery that took place while captives were still in Africa.
This was an amazing story and I cannot recommend it highly enough. show less
After her capture, Meena is forced to march across the continent with other captured Africans where she is put on a slave ship to South Carolina. The treatment these people endured was barbarous and many people died on the journey. It's a particularly painful section of the book to read. After a number of years her journey will take her to New York and eventually to Nova Scotia, Canada where she becomes a free woman. Throughout her life her one abiding goal is to return to the village show more she loved in Africa. Even though tragedy and cruelty are common in her life, Meena's strength of character and ability to make the best of a bad life make this a mesmerizing story.
Although this book is a work of fiction, the amount of research done is exceptional. The author acknowledges that he used real people as the basis for many of the characters in the story. Much of the story is based on historical events including the original title, The Book of Negroes. The Book of Negroes was a ledger in which the names of African-Americans who, because of their service to the British Loyalists during the American Revolution, were given passage to Canada on British ships. This novel deals with several aspects of African-American history that I was unfamiliar with, including the Loyalist slaves and the establishment of Freetown, Sierra Leone. The book also focuses on the horrors of slavery that took place while captives were still in Africa.
This was an amazing story and I cannot recommend it highly enough. show less
Aminata Diallo was a young girl of about twelve when her African village was attacked and she was sold into slavery. Aminata narrates her life story while living out her final days as a free woman among the abolitionists in London. Her journey to London took her through the indigo plantations of South Carolina, Revolutionary War era New York, a Loyalist settlement in Nova Scotia, and Freetown in Sierra Leone. Aminata somehow survived ordeals that killed many of her homelanders. With survival came the grief and loneliness of separations from everyone she loved.
This powerful novel pulls readers into the horrific experiences and emotions of the millions of Africans caught in the net of the slave trade. However, I was always aware that I show more had a choice. When Aminata's story got too intense, I could put the book down and pick it up later. I could just stop reading without finishing the book. Aminata and the hundreds of thousands of African slaves she represents didn't get that choice. show less
This powerful novel pulls readers into the horrific experiences and emotions of the millions of Africans caught in the net of the slave trade. However, I was always aware that I show more had a choice. When Aminata's story got too intense, I could put the book down and pick it up later. I could just stop reading without finishing the book. Aminata and the hundreds of thousands of African slaves she represents didn't get that choice. show less
Lawrence Hill has written a book that is unforgettable. The story of Aminata (Meena) Diallo who is taken from her African village as a young girl to be sold into slavery in South Carolina and eventually manages to flee to freedom and return to Africa is filled with details so rich that the story seems real. The tragedies that befell her (the forced removal of her son, the drowning death of her husband when they had finally managed to reunite and the kidnapping of her daughter) would have devastated anyone. The other difficulties she surmounted (illnesses, starvation, cold, beatings, riots) would have been more than most could survive. The fact that she survived and learned to read and write and pass on her knowledge make her a heroine show more that we would all like to emulate.
Hill is part black himself (or I guess in these Obama days we should call him bi-racial). His father is a sociologist descended from Africans enslaved in the united States and both his parents were civil rights activists. In fact, the idea for this book came to Daniel from a book he took from his parents, The Black Loyalists: The Search for a Promised Land in Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone, 1783-1870 by James W. St. G. Walker. Lawrence's brother Dan Hill was a musician and singer that I much admired in the 60's and 70's. Recently Dan Hill wrote a piece in Maclean's about the struggles his son faces as a young black man in Canada. Although we no longer enslave black people I don't think we can say that they are yet treated as equals. I hope that lots of people will read this book and think about the struggles black people (and other visible minorities) face here and now. show less
Hill is part black himself (or I guess in these Obama days we should call him bi-racial). His father is a sociologist descended from Africans enslaved in the united States and both his parents were civil rights activists. In fact, the idea for this book came to Daniel from a book he took from his parents, The Black Loyalists: The Search for a Promised Land in Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone, 1783-1870 by James W. St. G. Walker. Lawrence's brother Dan Hill was a musician and singer that I much admired in the 60's and 70's. Recently Dan Hill wrote a piece in Maclean's about the struggles his son faces as a young black man in Canada. Although we no longer enslave black people I don't think we can say that they are yet treated as equals. I hope that lots of people will read this book and think about the struggles black people (and other visible minorities) face here and now. show less
This is the story of Aminata Diallo. At age eleven, she survives abduction from Benin that killed her parents. She is taken by slave ship to South Carolina, where she works in the indigo fields. At the plantation, she meets a surrogate mother and eventually finds love with a fellow African on another plantation.
Aminata is an intelligent woman, gifted in languages. She is familiar with multiple African dialects and learns English easily. When a Jewish indigo inspector arrives at the plantation, he notices Aminata’s intelligence and convinces the cruel plantation owner to sell her to him. This is a fortunate turn of events. The man’s wife teaches her to read and write but also uses her skills to help in his business. Aminata and her show more second owner travel to New York. She escapes, and earns a living through the practice of midwifery, which she learned from her mother.
Toward the end of the American Revolution, Aminata participates in scribing names into the Book of Negroes (the original title of this book). This was a real document created by the English to reward black loyalists with freedom and safe passage to Nova Scotia. She always yearns to return to her village in Africa. She meets several abolitionists, and her ultimate fate is linked to a voyage to Sierra Leone and ties to the abolitionists.
This novel provides a deep immersion into the life of a strong woman who faces the cruelties of slavery but manages to survive. Since Aminata is able to obtain education, she is the perfect protagonist to convey a broad scope of events, touching on many aspects of slavery. It tells the whole picture, including brutalities, but is not solely focused on miseries. It is a beautifully written epic saga. It is one of the best slave narratives I have read, and a superb example of historical fiction done well. show less
Aminata is an intelligent woman, gifted in languages. She is familiar with multiple African dialects and learns English easily. When a Jewish indigo inspector arrives at the plantation, he notices Aminata’s intelligence and convinces the cruel plantation owner to sell her to him. This is a fortunate turn of events. The man’s wife teaches her to read and write but also uses her skills to help in his business. Aminata and her show more second owner travel to New York. She escapes, and earns a living through the practice of midwifery, which she learned from her mother.
Toward the end of the American Revolution, Aminata participates in scribing names into the Book of Negroes (the original title of this book). This was a real document created by the English to reward black loyalists with freedom and safe passage to Nova Scotia. She always yearns to return to her village in Africa. She meets several abolitionists, and her ultimate fate is linked to a voyage to Sierra Leone and ties to the abolitionists.
This novel provides a deep immersion into the life of a strong woman who faces the cruelties of slavery but manages to survive. Since Aminata is able to obtain education, she is the perfect protagonist to convey a broad scope of events, touching on many aspects of slavery. It tells the whole picture, including brutalities, but is not solely focused on miseries. It is a beautifully written epic saga. It is one of the best slave narratives I have read, and a superb example of historical fiction done well. show less
A true epic, The Book of Negroes chronicles the life of an African girl sold into slavery in the 1700s and the heartbreaking events which took her across a number of continents over the decades.
This was very much a plot driven book, which took me a good 100 pages or so to get properly into. The first person narrative felt limiting in places - I didn't often get to connect with the true emotions of the protagonist, and at the beginning it felt quite like an averagely written chronicling of events. The plot saved it for me, though, and the harrowing story of both her slavery and difficult conditions under freedom kept it gripping.
This book was initially sold under Someone Knows my Name in other countries, as the publishers felt The Book show more of Negroes was too contentious a title in some regions. However, this refers to a real historical document which detailed the coloured people, both free and indentured, who sailed in desperation from New York - where they feared they would be recaptured into slavery - to become part of the first settlers of the then British colony of Nova Scotia.
A powerful and heartbreaking story of a desperate period in history, this was an enjoyable book but not my favourite style of writing. show less
This was very much a plot driven book, which took me a good 100 pages or so to get properly into. The first person narrative felt limiting in places - I didn't often get to connect with the true emotions of the protagonist, and at the beginning it felt quite like an averagely written chronicling of events. The plot saved it for me, though, and the harrowing story of both her slavery and difficult conditions under freedom kept it gripping.
This book was initially sold under Someone Knows my Name in other countries, as the publishers felt The Book show more of Negroes was too contentious a title in some regions. However, this refers to a real historical document which detailed the coloured people, both free and indentured, who sailed in desperation from New York - where they feared they would be recaptured into slavery - to become part of the first settlers of the then British colony of Nova Scotia.
A powerful and heartbreaking story of a desperate period in history, this was an enjoyable book but not my favourite style of writing. show less
Someone knows my name is a compelling and fascinating account of one woman’s remarkable experiences that spans six decades and three continents as a slave from childhood through to her death. I loved this book when I first read it in 2011 and really enjoyed re-reading (listening) to this one as a buddy read with a friend. A book that grabs your attention from page one.
The history of the Slave Trade in America is heartbreaking and real and this is one of those books that is chilling and unputdownable because it brings history to life for the reader and that is how historical fiction works so well for me. The author paints a realistic but terrifying picture of a time and practice that that will have your emotions all over the place show more as you read of the horrendous atrocities of slavery in our world’s history.
The story focuses on Aninata Diablo, who was born in West Africa in 1745. Kidnapped as a child, she is enslaved in South Carolina but escapes during the chaos of the Revolutionary War.
This book’s strength lies in its wonderful protagonist Aminata, a frail old lady who recounts her story and her courage and strength in the face of all evil is truly inspiring and page turning. You will find yourself rooting for this character from the very first page.
A meticulously researched novel that is rich in history and a book that is educational, entertaining and really good story.
I listened to his one on audio and really enjoyed the narration and can highly recommend this as a hard copy read and an audible choice. show less
The history of the Slave Trade in America is heartbreaking and real and this is one of those books that is chilling and unputdownable because it brings history to life for the reader and that is how historical fiction works so well for me. The author paints a realistic but terrifying picture of a time and practice that that will have your emotions all over the place show more as you read of the horrendous atrocities of slavery in our world’s history.
The story focuses on Aninata Diablo, who was born in West Africa in 1745. Kidnapped as a child, she is enslaved in South Carolina but escapes during the chaos of the Revolutionary War.
This book’s strength lies in its wonderful protagonist Aminata, a frail old lady who recounts her story and her courage and strength in the face of all evil is truly inspiring and page turning. You will find yourself rooting for this character from the very first page.
A meticulously researched novel that is rich in history and a book that is educational, entertaining and really good story.
I listened to his one on audio and really enjoyed the narration and can highly recommend this as a hard copy read and an audible choice. show less
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Published Reviews
ThingScore 81
With mature themes (e.g., a rape scene on the ship, descriptive killings, and sexual situations), this book is suited for older teens. Hill clearly researched multiple and sources to provide an accurate acount of Aminata's heroic journey and brings to life crucial world history. Teens who enjoyed Sharon Draper's Copper Sun will appreciate this page-turning novel.
added by Christa_Josh
An unforgettable epic, seen through the eyes of a sharply realized, indomitable heroine.
added by Christa_Josh
Unfortunately, [Hill's] didactic purpose gets the upper hand and overwhelms the story. Aminata is simply too noble to be believable, and other major characters are mainly symbolic. Nevertheless, Hill's fascinating source material makes this a good choice for book clubs and discussion groups.
added by Christa_Josh
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Author Information
10+ Works 5,391 Members
Lawrence Hill was born in 1957 in Newmarket, Ontario. He earned a B.A. in economics from Laval University in Quebec City and later an M. A. in writing from Johns Hopkins University. Hill taught undergraduate fiction writing while completing his M.A. at Johns Hopkins, and since graduating has taught creative writing in numerous adult education show more programs. He has worked as a full-time newspaper reporter for The Globe and Mail and The Winnipeg Free Press. He has authored several books. Hill's nonfiction books include Trials and Triumphs: The Story of African-Canadians, Black Berry, Sweet Juice: On Being Black and White in Canada , The Deserter's Tale: The Story of An Ordinary Soldier Who Walked Away from the War in Iraq, and Dear Sir, I Intend to Burn Your Book: An Anatomy of a Book Burning. Hill's fictional works include Some Great Thing, Any Known Blood ,The Book of Negroes, and The Illegal. The Book of Negroes won several awards including the Rogers Writers Trust Fiction Prize. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Awards
Distinctions
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Gallimard, Folio (7202)
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Book of Negroes
- Original title
- The Book of Negroes
- Alternate titles
- Someone Knows My Name
- Original publication date
- 2007-11-07
- People/Characters
- Aminata Diallo; Chekura; Georgia; Robinson Appleby; Solomon Lindo; Mrs. Lindo (show all 24); Sam Fraunces; Claybourne Mitchell; Malcolm Waters; Bertilda; Rosetta Walcott; Theo McArdle; Moses Wilkinson (Daddy Moses); Jason Wood; Evangeline Wilkinson; Alverna Witherspoon; John Clarkson; Thomas Peters; Debra Stockman; Alexander Falconbridge; Anna Maria Falconbridge; William Armstrong; Stanley Hastings; William Wilberforce
- Important places
- Nova Scotia, Canada; London, England, UK; Freetown, Sierra Leone; Charles Town, North Carolina, USA; Bayo, Africa; New York, New York, USA
- Important events
- American Revolution (1775)
- Related movies
- The Book of Negroes (2015 | IMDb)
- Epigraph
- I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life.
--Deuteronomy 30:19
So geographers, in Afric-maps,
With savage-pictures fill their gaps;
And o'er unhabitable downs
Place elephants for want of towns.
--Jonathan Swift - Dedication
- For my daughter, and kindred spirit, Genevieve Aminata
- First words
- I seem to have trouble dying.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)They can wake me with the news, when they come home.
- Blurbers
- Clarke, Austin; Cooper, Afua; Anderson-Dargatz, Gail; Kimber, Stephen; Ravel, Edeet
- Original language*
- Engels
- Disambiguation notice
- The Book of Negroes (2007) was published as Someone Knows My Name in the U.S.A, Australia, and New Zealand.
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- General Fiction, Fiction and Literature, Historical Fiction
- DDC/MDS
- 813.54 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English 1900-1999 1945-1999
- LCC
- PR9199.3 .H479 .B66 — Language and Literature English English Literature English literature: Provincial, local, etc.
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 4,066
- Popularity
- 3,788
- Reviews
- 186
- Rating
- (4.31)
- Languages
- 7 — Dutch, English, French, German, Norwegian (Bokmål), Norwegian, Portuguese
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 54
- ASINs
- 26