A Respectable Trade

This is one of my favorite books. In addition to being an enjoable read,, one would learn well-researched historical facts about slave trade that deprived Africa of its sons and daughters of talents. Its consequences could be seen even today. This book lends a human dimension to this historical tragedy. We hear the slaves telling their stories around the kitchen table of their masters. We hear their cries, their laughter, their longing for their families and their homeland. The novel also shows the shallow thinking of those slave masters. Even the protagonist of the story, who is supposed to be a sympathetic figure, is superficial in her thinking and even hypocritical. She wanted to have it all: wealth, status, and empty aristocratic titles. Then she sought love and lust from the very people she enslaved and stripped from basic human rights including the right to have non-English names; and she insisted on keeping them slaves up to the very end. The African man is a great personality. He shocked his masters with his intelligence and wisdom and the speed with which he excelled in their language. He drew strength from the memories of his homeland. He drew warmth from the bright sun shining in the sky of his hometown while suffering the dark clouds of his new life.

This is one of my favorite books. In addition to being an enjoyable read, one would learn well-researched historical facts about slave trade that deprived Africa of its sons and daughters of talents. Its consequences could be seen even today. This book lends a human dimension to this historical tragedy. We hear the slaves telling their stories sitting down at the kitchen table of their masters. We hear their cries, their laughter, their longing for their families and their homeland. The novel also shows the shallow thinking of those slave masters. Even the protagonist of the story, who is supposed to be a sympathetic figure, is superficial in her thinking and even hypocritical. She wanted to have it all: wealth, status, and empty aristocratic titles. Then she sought love and lust from the very people she enslaved and stripped from basic human rights including the right to have non-English names; and she insisted on keeping them slaves up to the very end. The African man is a great personality. He shocked his masters with his intelligence and wisdom and the speed with which he excelled in their language. He drew strength from the memories of his homeland. He drew warmth from the bright sun shining in the sky of his hometown while suffering the dark clouds of his new life. Those of us who have escaped in search of freedom, experienced life in exile, and are longing for own family and homeland every day, would appreciate this novel even more.

I have to say, I found the main romance of this novel more than a bit unbelievable, but once I suspended my disbelief and gave the story a chance, it became very moving. I think one of the best things about the story is how every main character, no matter how misguided or negative their actions, is not a bad person. They all make mistakes, but they all have an element of decency, and each of them is trying to do what he or she feels is the right thing to do. The book is another affirmation of the basic evil of slavery, but it doesn't preach about it- Gregory makes the point through moving, character-driven scenes. This book really made me view history in an entirely new light.

This well written historical novel gives a glimpse into a less well known aspect of slavery namely, the slave trade in England. The depictions of life in 18th C Bristol are believable. The follies of the newly rich are applicable to all times and were amusing. The romance between the Yoruban slave and the mistress of the house is a bit overdone but a useful vehicle for the plot. What kept this from being really excellent was the somewhat superficial characterizations.

This book was very well written, but also very stark and unflinching in its portrayal of the slave trade in the city of Bristol at the end of the eighteenth century. It was not a nice time, and the city was neither genteel nor polite, no matter how much it pretended to be. The book captured this roughness, as well as the political maneuverings of the very rich, who managed to use everyone who was not included in their select circle for their own personal gain.Enter into this scene one impoverished lady with only her good name, an ambitious merchant and his sister, and a highly educated slave, and you get a story filled with complicated loyalties and difficult questions. What impressed me about this book is that it offered no trite answers to these questions.