Washington Black

Washington Black’s story begins as an 11-year-old slave who is taken in by the plantation owner’s brother, Titch, and, after incurring a burn that leaves his face disfigured and then witnessing a tragic event for which he is blamed, "Wash" is urgently sent out into the greater world by way of a hot air balloon. What follows is a wondrous, harrowing journey spanning continents as Titch and Wash struggle to leave the ghosts of their past behind, immersing themselves in scientific invention and discovery. Both arresting and defying categorization, Esi Edugyan gives us a sagaciously crafted, deeply inspired novel unlike any other. Recommended By Aubrey W., Powells.com

One of the TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR New York Times Book Review

One of the Best Books of the Year
The Boston Globe ● The Washington Post ● Time ● Entertainment Weekly ● San Francisco Chronicle ● Financial Times ● Minneapolis Star Tribune ● NPR ● The Economist ● Bustle ● The Dallas Morning News ● Slate ● Kirkus Reviews

One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of the Year

Eleven-year-old George Washington Black — or Wash — a field slave on a Barbados sugar plantation, is initially terrified when he is chosen as the manservant of his master's brother. To his surprise, however, the eccentric Christopher Wilde turns out to be a naturalist, explorer, inventor, and abolitionist. Soon Wash is initiated into a world where a flying machine can carry a man across the sky, where even a boy born in chains may embrace a life of dignity and meaning, and where two people, separated by an impossible divide, can begin to see each other as human.

But when a man is killed and a bounty is placed on Wash's head, they must abandon everything and flee together. Over the course of their travels, what brings Wash and Christopher together will tear them apart, propelling Wash ever farther across the globe in search of his true self. Spanning the Caribbean to the frozen Far North, London to Morocco, Washington Black is a story of self-invention and betrayal, of love and redemption, and of a world destroyed and made whole again.

"Sparkling...full of truths and startling marvels." San Francisco Chronicle

“Perfectly executed....Soaring....More than a tale of human bondage, it’s also an enthralling meditation on the weight of freedom, wrapped in a rousing adventure story stretching to the ends of the earth.” The Boston Globe

"Imaginative and dynamic....With equal parts terror, adventure and humanity, Washington Black reads like a dream collaboration between Jules Verne and Colson Whitehead." The Dallas Morning News

"A thoughtful, boldly imagined ripsnorter that broadens inventive possibilities for the antebellum novel." Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

"Brutal, magical, urgent and exuberant." Minneapolis Star Tribune

Esi Edugyan is author of the novels The Second Life of Samuel Tyne and Half-Blood Blues, which won the Scotiabank Giller Prize, was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize, the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and the Orange Prize. She lives in Victoria, British Columbia.