I love, love, love this book. That’s really the only reason for this post.
When I picked it up I expected to read an exciting and fast-paced steampunk adventure (it had an airship on the cover, okay?) but it’s not that kind of book. It is an adventure though, and I was not disappointed. In fact I liked the prose so much I dragged it out and read the book so slowly I had to renew it 5 times.
If you think that’s bad I have a book on my shelf that I’ve been working on for a year… Yeah, I have issues.
The book is written by Esi Eduguyan, a new author to me, although this is her third novel. The language and story is fantastic, and deeply moving. It only takes a few pages for me to thoroughly believe Washington Black was a real person.
The story starts on a plantation in Barbados where we meet the 11-year-old Washington Black just before he becomes an assistant to the plantation owner’s brother, who is building a Cloud-cutter (a kind of airship/hot air balloon) on which they both later escape… If you wish to read a proper review, which also mentions Eduguyan’s other work, look here: “beautiful and beguiling“.
Her other books are definitely on my to-read-list. x
Coffee & Curiosities 