Washington Black
Washington Black – Esi Edugyan’s tale of a Barbados youth taken by an inventor/scientist to be his slave, only to find that the boy will learn more than to carry scientistic instruments. When the elderly owner of Faith Plantation dies, his nephew inherits the Barbados property and the slaves who toil in its extensive sugar […]
The Sisters Brothers
More than four centuries ago, Thomas Nashe published The Unfortunate Traveller (1594) in English and Miguel de Cervantes published Don Quixote (1605) in Spanish. Together, they set a standard for picaresque fiction that writers still respect today. Here’s the simplified satiric formula: a rogue or a knave, a man of mixed intentions, generally naïve and […]