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Guests | December 29, 2009

Alex Lemon: IMG Everyone Called Me "Happy"



I have nystagmus and diplopia and chronic pain and ataxia, and I can tell that I'm nervous and excited that my new book is out today because all of... Continue »
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    Happy: A Memoir

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Someone Knows My Name

by Lawrence Hill

Someone Knows My Name Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

"You feel you are turning the pages of history, the pages of truth."—Austin Clarke, author of The Polished Hoe

Abducted from Africa as a child and enslaved in South Carolina, Aminata Diallo thinks only of freedom—and of the knowledge she needs to get home. Sold to an indigo trader who recognizes her intelligence, Aminata is torn from her husband and child and thrown into the chaos of the Revolutionary War. In Manhattan, Aminata helps pen the Book of Negroes, a list of blacks rewarded for service to the king with safe passage to Nova Scotia. There Aminata finds a life of hardship and stinging prejudice. When the British abolitionists come looking for "adventurers" to create a new colony in Sierra Leone, Aminata assists in moving 1,200 Nova Scotians to Africa and aiding the abolitionist cause by revealing the realities of slavery to the British public. This captivating story of one woman's remarkable experience spans six decades and three continents and brings to life a crucial chapter in world history.

Review:

"Stunning, wrenching and inspiring, the fourth novel by Canadian novelist Hill (Any Known Blood) spans the life of Aminata Diallo, born in Bayo, West Africa, in 1745. The novel opens in 1802, as Aminata is wooed in London to the cause of British abolitionists, and begins reflecting on her life. Kidnapped at the age of 11 by British slavers, Aminata survives the Middle Passage and is reunited in South Carolina with Chekura, a boy from a village near hers. Her story gets entwined with his, and with those of her owners: nasty indigo producer Robinson Appleby and, later, Jewish duty inspector Solomon Lindo. During her long life of struggle, she does what she can to free herself and others from slavery, including learning to read and teaching others to, and befriending anyone who can help her, black or white. Hill handles the pacing and tension masterfully, particularly during the beginnings of the American revolution, when the British promise to free Blacks who fight for the British: Aminata's related, eventful travels to Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone follow. In depicting a woman who survives history's most trying conditions through force of intelligence and personality, Hill's book is a harrowing, breathtaking tour de force." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Review:

"Lawrence Hill's historical intelligence was already manifest in his 1997 novel, 'Any Known Blood,' in which he used racial and geographic borders to explore and transform a Canadian story. In his new novel, 'Someone Knows My Name,' Hill has extended his range and refined his craft to produce a compelling narrative that moves from mid-18th-century West Africa to South Carolina, Manhattan, Nova Scotia,... Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review)

Synopsis:

Abducted from Africa as a child and enslaved in South Carolina, Aminata Diallo thinks only of freedom--and of the knowledge she needs to get home. This captivating story of one womans remarkable experience spans six decades and three continents and brings to life a crucial chapter in world history.

About the Author

Lawrence Hill is the author of the novels Any Known Blood and Some Great Thing and of The Deserter's Tale (with Joshua Key). He lives in Ontario, Canada.

Product Details

ISBN:
9780393065787
Author:
Hill, Lawrence
Publisher:
W. W. Norton & Company
Subject:
Historical - General
Subject:
Blacks
Subject:
History
Subject:
Historical
Subject:
Slavery
Subject:
Slaves -- United States.
Publication Date:
November 2007
Binding:
Hardcover
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
486
Dimensions:
9 x 6 in

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