Once you've finished the final pages of this book, you may be inspired to immediately pursue nonfiction titles on the subject. Mr. Hill's gifted prose, and impressive scholarly research have created an outstanding historical novel portraying the 18th century life of one heroic African woman. Aminato Diallo narrates her epic life as a slave with humble poetic reflection. This is a great novel from a sensitive and gifted Canadian author.

"Wonderfully written...as in the slave narratives that inspired it, language is power."—Nancy Kline, New York Times Book Review

Kidnapped as a child from Africa, Aminata Diallo is enslaved in South Carolina but escapes during the chaos of the Revolutionary War. In Manhattan she becomes a scribe for the British, recording the names of blacks who have served the King and earned freedom in Nova Scotia. But the hardship and prejudice there prompt her to follow her heart back to Africa, then on to London, where she bears witness to the injustices of slavery and its toll on her life and a whole people. It is a story that no listener, and no reader, will ever forget. Reading group guide included.

Lawrence Hill is the author of the novels Any Known Blood and Some Great Thing and of the nonfiction work The Deserter's Tale (with Joshua Key). He lives in Ontario, Canada.

Publisher: W. W. Norton
Distributor: W. W. Norton
Publication Date: 11-10-2008
Pages: 512
Measurements: 8in X 6in