Choices - Fiction
A Respectable Trade by Philippa Gregory
A Respectable Trade by Philippa Gregory
The devastating consequences of the slave trade in 18th century Bristol are explored through the powerful but impossible attraction of well-born Frances and her Yoruban slave, Mehuru. Bristol in 1787 is booming, thanks to 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.
The story will have particular resonance in 2007 – the anniversary of the Abolition of Slavery. Some groups may wish to read in it conjunction with 2007’s Reading Adventure title, Small Island by Andrea Levy.
2 sets of 10 copies each.
