River Sing Me Home: A GMA Book Club Pick

Books | Fiction / Literary

3.9

Eleanor Shearer

A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK • This beautiful, page-turning and redemptive story of a mother’s gripping journey across the Caribbean to find her stolen children and piece her family back together is a “celebration of motherhood and female resilience” (The Observer). Named One of Time’s 100 Must-Read Books of 2023 • A Dayton Literary Peace Prize Finalist “A powerful novel that explores how freedom and family are truly defined”—Marie Benedict, New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Personal Librarian Her search begins with an ending.…The master of the Providence plantation in Barbados gathers his slaves and announces the king has decreed an end to slavery. As of the following day, the Emancipation Act of 1834 will come into effect. The cries of joy fall silent when he announces that they are no longer his slaves; they are now his apprentices. No one can leave. They must work for him for another six years. Freedom is just another name for the life they have always lived. So Rachel runs. Away from Providence, she begins a desperate search to find her children—the five who survived birth and were sold. Are any of them still alive? Rachel has to know. The grueling, dangerous journey takes her from Barbados then, by river, deep into the forest of British Guiana and finally across the sea to Trinidad. She is driven on by the certainty that a mother cannot be truly free without knowing what has become of her children, even if the answer is more than she can bear. These are the stories of Mary Grace, Micah, Thomas Augustus, Cherry Jane and Mercy. But above all this is the story of Rachel and the extraordinary lengths to which a mother will go to find her children...and her freedom.

Historical Fiction

Buy now:

More Details:

Author

Eleanor Shearer

Pages

336

Publisher

Penguin

Published Date

2023-01-31

ISBN

0593548051 9780593548059

Community ReviewsSee all

"A powerful story of a mother’s love and the search for her children that were taken from her at the plantation and sold to other slave owners. Rachel’s determination and courage to find them was written so beautifully. Highly recommend reading this book! "

Sandy Lopez

"This book was so well written, I had to remind myself it wasn't based on a true story. I loved the characters. They had so much depth and their personalities were individually unique. The pacing of the book almost felt like I was reading a thriller. 🌟"

July

"This is not my usual read but I got it for Black History Month. This book does have sexual assault and abuse. So because this book has no fantasy factor, it was hard for me to get into. This book follows Rachel as she escapes slavery in Barbados and is determined to locate her five children, no matter the stakes. Overall I feel that this was a wonderful story, regardless of the genre. It has amazing storytelling quality and I didn’t feel like the history was lost in the story. You get to experience Rachel’s emotions as she looks for and finds her children. You get to experience her stress, her despair, her heartache, it was beautiful. As you are experiencing her current adventure, you also hear about the life she has lived, the lives of her children, and the lives of the people she meets along the way. There is so much history in this book. Though this takes place in the Caribbean, it is very relatable to the slavery that took place in America. However hearing this point of view that I have never experienced stories from before was a very inspiring moment for me. Seeing the paths and mindset of different people during this time, black people born free, runaway slaves, “passing” high society slaves, and those still in bondage, helped to build this story into something I couldn’t put down. In these pages each character must ask themselves what the idea of freedom means to them. Is freedom a mental or physical aspect of your life? Is it something that you are still fighting to find? Or is it an unattainable thing altogether? Though going back I probably wouldn’t order this book again, I am glad that I experienced the history of this book and getting to meet the characters. There is so much unbelievable strength and resilience in these pages. This book is fictional y es, but it tells the story of black history whether from the islands or America, in such a both heartbreaking and beautiful light. "