Washington Black

Product Description One of the New York Times Book Review TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR  Eleven-year-old George Washington Black—or Wash—a field slave on a Barbados sugar plantation, is initially terrified when he is chosen as the manservant of his master’s brother. To his surprise, however, the eccentric Christopher Wilde turns out to be a naturalist, explorer, inventor, and abolitionist. Soon Wash is initiated into a world where a flying machine can carry a man across the sky, where even a boy born in chains may embrace a life of dignity and meaning, and where two people, separated by an impossible divide, can begin to see each other as human.   But when a man is killed and a bounty is placed on Wash’s head, they must abandon everything and flee together. Over the course of their travels, what brings Wash and Christopher together will tear them apart, propelling Wash ever farther across the globe in search of his true self. Spanning the Caribbean to the frozen Far North, London to Morocco, Washington Black is a story of self-invention and betrayal, of love and redemption, and of a world destroyed and made whole again. One of the Best Books of the YearThe Boston Globe ● The Washington Post ● Time ● Entertainment Weekly ● San Francisco Chronicle ● Financial Times ● Minneapolis Star Tribune ● NPR ● The Economist ● Bustle ● The Dallas Morning News ● Slate ● Kirkus Reviews Amazon.com Review : Washington Black is that rarest of novels: a hybrid that knows exactly what it is. The story begins as an antebellum novel about Wash, an 11-year-old slave working on a Barbados plantation run by a sadistic master. When Christopher, the master’s brother, takes Wash under his wing and teaches him to read, the novel turns more toward adventure and scientific exploration. There are inventions, twists, and turns; there is danger and intrigue; there is travel and growth. What holds everything together is author Esi Edugyan’s writing chops. She is a precise writer who has created a world that seems whole and all-embracing. Her characters are fully realized human beings. The weight of personal freedom is a theme that winds through the book, as does the opposing weight of cultural and societal expectations. There is so much to digest here, and so much to enjoy, that readers may well be tempted to read this book twice. --Chris Schluep, Amazon Book Review Editors' pick: There is so much to digest here, and so much to enjoy, that readers may well be tempted to read this book twice."—Chris Schluep, Amazon Editor Review “Extraordinary. . . . Edugyan is a magical writer.” — The Washington Post “A daring work of empathy and imagination.” — The New York Times Book Review   “Soaring. . . . Washington Black contains immense feeling.” — Entertainment Weekly   “An inspiring story of freedom and self­discovery.” — Time   “Enthralling.” — The Boston Globe   “Sparkling . . . full of truths and startling marvels.” — San Francisco Chronicle   “Powerful.” — The Seattle Times   “Lush, exhilarating.” — The New Yorker “Edugyan has created a wonder of an adventure story, powered by the helium of fantasy, but also by the tender sensibility of its aspiring young hero.” —NPR “Washington Black’s presence in these pages is fierce and unsettling.” —Colm Toibin, The New York Times Book Review   “A gripping historical narrative exploring both the bounds of slavery and what it means to be truly free.” — Vanity Fair   “Brutal, magical, urgent and exuberant.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune “Imaginative and dynamic. . . . With equal parts terror, adventure and humanity, Washington Black reads like a dream collaboration between Jules Verne and Colson Whitehead.” — The Dallas Morning News   “Exuberant and spellbinding. . . . The novel is not only harrowing and poignant in its portrayal of the horrors of slavery on a Caribbean plantation but liberating, too, in its playful shattering of the usual tropes. The result is a book about freedom that’s both heartbre