Blood & Sugar - Laura Shepherd-Robinson
Książka po angielsku
Okładka miękka
ilość stron - 452

An impressive debut , Blood and Sugar by Laura Shepherd- Robinson takes the reader back to a dark time in British history. It is 1781 and at Deptford dock a man's body is discovered hanging from a hook. It is clear that he has been tortured and brutally murdered, and it seems that it could be a warning. When military man Harry Corsham is visited by the sister of an old friend, and learns that he has disappeared it seems clear that the two strands of the story are linked. Sure enough the unfortunate victim is his old friend, and before long Corsham is convinced that the authorities in Deptford know more than they are saying. As a slaving port, his friend's abolitionist views would have made him no friends, but with a little digging Corsham learns that his friend was on the verge of laying bare a horrifying secret that could have been a devastating blow to the slave trade, not just in Deptford but in Britain as a whole. As layer upon layer of conspiracy unfolds, the true depravity of the secret and the lengths that the conspirators will go to keep it hidden makes for gripping reading.
This is not a book for the faint of heart, while the violence is never gratuitous, it is there, and often in very stark, almost graphic terms, and this can make for upsetting reading at times. The book is loosely inspired by real events, and that makes it all the more disturbing, but an important look at a dark period. I also found it really interesting to read about the slave trade from the British perspective, so often it is regarded as an American issue or problem, it is easy to forget that it happened far closer to home too. The book is a dense read, though I mean that in a positive way, the plot twists and turns and there is a wealth of fascinating characters to get to grips with.