In the late 1640s, Andrea Stuart's earliest known maternal ancestor set sail from England, lured by the promise of the New World, to settle in Barbados where he fell by chance into the lucrative life of a sugar plantation owner.With George Ashby's first crop, the cane revolution was underway and would go on to transform the Caribbean into an archipelago of riches, establishing a thriving worldwide industry that bound together ambitious white entrepreneurs and enslaved black workers.As it grew, this sweet colonial trade fuelled the Enlightenment and financed the Industrial Revolution, but it also had more direct, less palatable consequences for the individuals caught up in it, consequences that still haunt the author's past.In this unique personal history, Andrea Stuart follows the thread of her own family's involvement with sugar through successive generations, telling a story of insatiable greed and forbidden love, of abuse and liberation.
Sugar in the Blood: A Family's Story of Slavery and Empire
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The transformation of ordinary Englishmen into the masters of sugar plantations where African slaves toiled is a familiar enough story, but it has rarely been fleshed out with so much biographical detail, or indeed, told by a descendant as elegant as Stuart ... Her's is a captivating story --The Times
About the Author
ANDREA STUART was born and raised in the Caribbean and the US. She studied English at the University of East Anglia and French at the Sorbonne. Her first book, Showgirls (Jonathan Cape, 1996), a collective biography of showgirls from Colette, to Marlene Dietrich to Madonna, was adapted into a two-part documentary for the Discovery Channel in 1998 and has since inspired a theatrical show, a contemporary dance piece and a number of burlesque performances. Her second book, The Rose of Martinique: A Biography of Napoleon's Josephine (Macmillan, 2003) was translated into several languages and won the Enid McLeod Literary Prize in 2004. She is writer in Residence at Kingston University and teaches at the Faber Academy.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By desetbear
Format:Hardcover
This is a great book. There are so many things in here to make you stop and think, not always comfortably. For example, Andrea is fortunate to have such an interesting and researchable family history to recount. And yet how can you say that it is good fortune to have a family history emeshed in slavery, traceable in part only because of efficient records of slave ownership? But there are also things in this book that make you want to just keep turning the page in the unfolding family drama down the generations. Although that can also be uncomfortable. You almost want the first Ashby's to survive and flourish against the odds in their new world. Or at least I did, aware that this is the start of the author's known family tree. And yet how can anyone say that they wanted these pioneer families to flourish, when it was only possible thanks to slavery?
A combination of detailled research and an eloquent retelling of some dreadful stories and realities bring another time and place vividly to life. However the fact that the story is also very personal adds a moving and unusual dimension, as Andrea reflects on her ancestors and their differing lives in an open and honest way. I kept being drawn back to these people, caring about their fate. Black, white and clearly all shades in between. Flawed and heroic, sometimes both. But all of them Andrea's flesh and blood, who have lived the consequences of slavery and empire and still do to this day.
In her preface Andrea talks beautifully about her debt of honour to all her ancestors, telling their story and bringing them to life. In the introduction she talks of how angry and upset she felt at finding an ancestor in a register of slaves, but also about how he can now be honoured. Andrea has done her family proud. She may consider that she had a debt to pay, if so it is certainly one that she has repaid handsomely with this book. And the rest of us are very lucky that such a gifted writer has chosen to share her story with us.
K. J. Talbot
A combination of detailled research and an eloquent retelling of some dreadful stories and realities bring another time and place vividly to life. However the fact that the story is also very personal adds a moving and unusual dimension, as Andrea reflects on her ancestors and their differing lives in an open and honest way. I kept being drawn back to these people, caring about their fate. Black, white and clearly all shades in between. Flawed and heroic, sometimes both. But all of them Andrea's flesh and blood, who have lived the consequences of slavery and empire and still do to this day.
In her preface Andrea talks beautifully about her debt of honour to all her ancestors, telling their story and bringing them to life. In the introduction she talks of how angry and upset she felt at finding an ancestor in a register of slaves, but also about how he can now be honoured. Andrea has done her family proud. She may consider that she had a debt to pay, if so it is certainly one that she has repaid handsomely with this book. And the rest of us are very lucky that such a gifted writer has chosen to share her story with us.
K. J. Talbot
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
A book that exposes the realities of men at their worst and best. A fascinating insight into how the West Indies became a prosperous nation but also the cruelty and horror it went through to achieve this. The book has a personal side as the author is a direct descendant of both a pioneering landowner and one of the slaves who worked on the land. There are no sides to this story and the reader is left to form his or her own conclusions. A clear and insightful piece of work.
5 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By chirundu
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Have just covered 40% of the book and it is absolutely packed with information and analysis - yet it never loses its thread. This is one definite inspiration for me as I prpare my own account of life in the Empire. A must read for black scholars!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
A real insight into Barbados history
As a regular visitor to Barbados, I was looking for a book that would give me an insight into the history of the country. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Shelldonia
2.0 out of 5 stars
Mixed Feelings
This is a subject that everyone should know more about. It is part of the history of our impact on the world and we should all know as much about this as we can, both good and bad. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Peppermint50
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