Her search begins with an ending…
The master of the Providence plantation in Barbados gathers his slaves and announces the king has decreed an end to slavery. As of the following day, the Emancipation Act of 1834 will come into effect. The cries of joy fall silent when he announces that they are no longer his slaves; they are now his apprentices. No one can leave. They must work for him for another six years. Freedom is just another name for the life they have always lived. So Rachel runs.
Away from Providence, she begins a desperate search to find her children – the five who survived birth and were sold. Are any of them still alive? Rachel has to know. The gruelling, dangerous journey takes her from Barbados then, by river, deep into the forest of British Guiana and finally across the sea to Trinidad. She is driven on by the certainty that a mother cannot be truly free without knowing what has become of her children, even if the answer is more than she can bear. These are the stories of Mary Grace, Micah, Thomas Augustus, Cherry Jane and Mercy. But above all this is the story of Rachel and the extraordinary lengths to which a mother will go to find her children… and her freedom.
Debut author Eleanor Shearer is a mixed-race writer and the granddaughter of Windrush generation immigrants. During her Master’s degree, Shearer studied the legacy of slavery and completed fieldwork in St. Lucia and Barbados which inspired her to write her debut novel, River Sing Me Home. Shearer writes beautifully and eloquently, exploring the cruelty of slavery; it’s gut-wrenching, emotional and harrowing, but is also hopeful.
When Rachel escapes from Providence, a plantation that smells like sweet cane and brutal despair, she is determined to find the children that were taken from her. Her love knows no bounds as her search takes her into dangerous territory where she could be tortured and killed. But if her children are still alive, she has to take that risk.
This novel took me on an emotional rollercoaster. There are many challenging themes, which at times I found difficult to read, but it’s important and a story that needs to be told. The utter despair and fear that Rachel experiences throughout the story is brutally honest and real, but her determination, strength and hope to find her children, like an unbreakable light that guides her, kept me reading. This unbreakable bond will resonate for many readers and their families, and will stay with me for years to come.
River Sing Me Home is a lyrical masterpiece. If you love historical fiction, strong female characters and spellbinding prose, this is the book for you.
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