|
 A respectable trade - Phillipa Gregory
Description: ISBN 0006473377 / Author: Philippa Gregory / Genre: Fiction / The devastating consequences of the slave trade in 18th century Bristol are ... more  A respectable trade - Phillipa Gregory ... explored through the powerful but impossible attraction of well-born Frances and her Yoruban slave, Mehuru. 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.Newest Review: ... trainer, she forces herself to come down hard on the Africans stolen from their homeland. But when she falls in love with ... more ... Mehuru, an African priest now forced to lie in shackles, she finds her beliefs, her respectability, and her heart facing their biggest challenge ever.
Can love overcome the boundaries of race and social status? Can it overcome anger and pride?
In keeping with Gregory’s other works the characters are well developed and each individual character stands out. Frances in particular is a great character; starting out as the model of a respectable wife (dumb, silent, and obedient) she develops a fiery personality as her i...more |
||
A respectable trade - Phillipa Gregory: A not so respectable history... (981 words)
by thehonesttruth - written on 13.10.07 (Very useful, 59 readings)
Rating:
I love historical novels, and Phillippa Gregory is probably one of my favourite historical authors. Her most well known works deal with the Tudor and Elizabethan Court, and excellent though these works are, they contain characters I am already familiar with, and although her style of writing is gripping, it doesn't mask the fact that I know Anne Boleyn's in for a beheading. So, when I came across a respectable trade, I was refreshed to see that there were no well-known characters in the plot. No kings, no queens, and no whores with three nipples. Instead this is a tale of the slave trade, told primarily from the point of view of Frances Scott. When ...
More Books from Genre Fiction
- Horrible Histories: The Smashing Saxons - Terry Deary
- A Life Drawing - Shirley Hughes
- It's Too Frightening for Me - Shirley Hughes
- It's Quacking Time! - Martin Waddell
- A Kitten Called Moonlight - Martin Waddell
- Once There Were Giants - Martin Waddell
- The Hidden House - Martin Waddell
- The Big Alfie Out of Doors Storybook - Shirley Hughes
- We Love Them - Martin Waddell
- Horrible Histories: Loathsome London - Terry Deary
