Washington Black: A Novel

"George Washington Black – Wash to one and all – is an enslaved 11-year-old who lives and toils on a Barbados sugar plantation. When the plantation master’s brother visits, he “borrows” Wash as ballast for a hot-air balloon he has constructed, but he also becomes Wash’s mentor and protector. Something happens that forces the two to flee in the balloon, first to the United States, then to the Article Circle; Wash eventually travels the globe. As he grows into a talented naturalist, he learns that freedom is not a one-time thing and that there are many ways to be enslaved – by fear, by anger, even by love. Edugyan’s prose mesmerizes."