River Sing Me Home, Eleanor Shearer
‘'We whisper the names of the ones we love like the words of a song. That was the taste of freedom to us, those names on our lips.
Mary Grace, Micah, Thomas Augustus, Cherry Jane and Mercy.
These are the names of her children. The five who survived, only to be sold to other plantations. The faces Rachel cannot forget. It's 1834, and the law says her people are now free. But for Rachel freedom means finding her children, even if the truth is more than she can bear.
With fear snapping at her heels, Rachel keeps moving. From sunrise to sunset, through the cane fields of Barbados to the forests of British Guiana and on to Trinidad, to the dangerous river and the open sea. Only once she knows their stories can she rest. Only then can she finally find home. Inspired by the women who, in the aftermath of slavery, went in search of their lost children.
Eleanor Shearer reading from River Sing Me Home
It’s the first episode of the new season and Damian Barr’s Literary Salon is starting off with a bang! Debut novel River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer is a deeply affecting work of historical fiction that will transport you to the slave plantations of Barbados in 1834. Mary Grace, Micah, Thomas Augustus, Cherry Jane and Mercy. These are the names of Rachel’s children sold to places across the Caribbean. Unable to wait for her freedom, she escapes the plantation and embarks on a mother's journey to find her lost kin.
Described by the Observer as ‘a tender exploration of one woman's courage in the face of unbelievable cruelty. The heart of the novel lies in its celebration of motherhood and female resilience.'
If you loved Andrea Levy’s The Long Song or Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing, then this book is for you. River Sing Me Home is published by Headline Review and available now. We recommend buying a copy from your local indie bookshop or on bookshop.org.
This podcast is edited and produced by Megan Bay Dorman, and programmed by Matt Casbourne.
Damian Barr’s Literary Salon is where the freshest debuts and the biggest bestsellers read for the first time from their latest greatest books and share their own personal stories.
Enjoy the Literary Salon podcast's Book of the Week where each bite-sized episode offers an exclusive taster of a new book. World premieres include Douglas Stuart's Shuggie Bain, Maddie Mortimer's Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies and Maggie O'Farrell's The Marriage Portrait. You're going to love it.
Hosted by writer and broadcaster, Damian Barr, produced and edited by Megan Bay Dorman and programmed by Matt Casbourne.
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