Book description
The devastating consequences of the slave trade in 18th century are
explored through the powerful but impossible attraction of well-born
Frances and her slave, Mehuru. From the bestselling author of The Other
Boleyn Girl.
Bristol in 1787 is booming, from its stinking docks to its elegant new
houses. Josiah Cole, a small dockside trader, is prepared to gamble
everything to join the big players of the city. But he needs ready cash
and a well-connected wife.
An arranged marriage to Frances Scott is a mutually convenient
solution. Trading her social contacts for Josiah's protection, Frances
enters the world of the Bristol merchants and finds her life and fortune
dependent on the respectable trade of sugar, rum and slaves.
Once again Philippa Gregory brings her unique combination of a vivid
sense of history and inimitable storytelling skills to illuminate a
complex period of our past. Powerful, haunting, intensely disturbing,
this is a novel of desire and shame, of individuals, of a society, and
of a whole continent devastated by the greed of others. Praise for
Philppa Gregory:
'Compelling… Philippa Gregory reigns supreme as the mistress of
historical drama.' Today
'Subtle and exciting.' Daily Express
'Written from instinct, not out of calculation, and it shows.'
Peter Ackroyd, The Times Philippa Gregory is an internationally
renowned author of historical novels. She holds a PhD in
eighteenth-century literature from the University of Edinburgh. Works
that have been adapted for television include A Respectable Trade, The
Other Boleyn Girl and The Queen's Fool. The Other Boleyn Girl became a
major film, starring Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman and Eric Bana.
Philippa Gregory lives in the North of England with her family.
