River sing me home is a Historical Fiction Novell, written by Eleanor Shearer.
The story starts in in Barbados in 1834. The main character, Rachel works as a slave on a sugar plantation. In 1834, the British Empire officially abolished slavery with the Slavery Abolition Act. However, freedom didn’t come instantly in practice, so Rachel decides to escape.

Her main goal is to find her kids that were taken away from her in the past years. They have been taken away and sold to other slave holders. The trip is quite dangerous because although the slavery has been abolished, the plant owners still think they own the slaves. And when they escape, they will track them down, bring them back and punish them.

Rachel decides to take the risk to find her kids that have been spread out over the different countries and islands in the Caribbean. It's a dangerous journey because the islands were full of white people and black people back then hardly had any rights. She didn't know who she could trust, but she did need to trust people to get information to find her kids.
Finding her kids back was for Rachel the only way that she would actually feel free.

My opinion

I've read a non-fiction book about slavery in Suriname before where I was shocked by the brutality of the way enslaved people were treated. Not only the hard labor they had to do, but also things like mental and physical abuse, severe punishments, rape, killing were quite normal back then. Back in school I learned about this in history classes, but never this explicit. This horrible treatment of enslaved people is also comes up often in this book and can be really shocking. Although it's fictional, it is based on real events. A lot of formed enslaved people went looking for the kids that had been taken from them.
The story is really a touching about hope, strength, and a mother’s endless love for her kids.

Although the book is based on things that really have happened in the past, the search of Rachel for her children is a bit unrealistic. Yes, it's fiction, but what's the chance of finding your kids after so many years in such a large area (over multiple countries) and what are the chances of finding one, let alone all of them? As far as I'm concerned, the search is a bit too full of coincidences to be realistic.
But despite that it is a touching story and I can recommend reading it. Especially when you haven't read about slavery before.

Friendlymoose

I'm an amateur photographer with a love for indoor gardening, craft beer, and cycling. As the owner of the Cycling Community and the creator of the Topcomment initiative, I focus on fostering engagement and bringing like-minded people together.
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