Tag Archive | Jamaica

K is for brave KEMOSHA OF THE CARIBBEAN, now free – and a pirate! by Alex Wheatle (YA book review) #A2Z

Apr13
book cover of Kemosha of the Caribbean, by Alex Wheatle. Published by Black Sheep/Akashic Books | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Enslaved no more!
Fight for her freedom,
to free her family!

From her late mother, Kemosha learned Spanish and the dream of freedom, gifts kept secret from the brutal English sea captain who owns the Jamaican plantation and its Black workers.

When Kemosha is sold to a tavern owner in Port Royal, the 15 year old leaves little brother Gregory in cook Marta’s care, promising that she’ll return to get him, someday.

Port Royal is surely “the wickedest place on earth” in 1668, filled with drunken sailors who’ll pay Mr. Powell for “time with her” – but not if she can escape first!

She finds refuge with barrelmaker Ravenhide, the only free Black man in town, who teaches her how to fight with a sword, so she can challenge Powell and win her freedom in a public duel.

Through Ravenhide, Kemosha meets Isabella (even lovelier than the sailors’ song about her) and secures a job as cook on Captain Morgan’s privateer ship, away to fight against the Spanish.

Will she survive being on board the same ship as Mr. Powell?
Can she earn enough to buy Marta and Gregory’s freedom?
Will she ever see her beautiful Isabella again?

The author of 1760-set Cane Warriors (recommended here) brings another blood-spattered page from Jamaica’s history to life in this action-packed adventure.

If you could go back in time to talk to someone from history books, who would you choose?
**kmm

Book info: Kemosha of the Caribbean / Alex Wheatle. Black Sheep/Akashic Books, 2022. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

J is CANE WARRIORS fighting enslavement in Jamaica, by Alex Wheatle (YA book review)

Apr12
book cover of Cane Warriors, by Alex Wheatle. Published by Akashic Books | recommended on BooksYALove.com

The marks of the back-ripper whip,
fear in every breath,
time now to rise and fight!

Moa wishes that Tacky’s plan was quiet, but the 14 year old has seen too many fellow slaves worked to death in these Jamaican sugar cane fields or whipped for anything, like mentioning Midgewood who escaped from this plantation or talking about the old Akan ways and gods.

Three days from now – might be soon enough for young Hamaya since no slave can defend herself against their brutal overseer.

Can they kill all the white people on Easter Day so no one can warn the other plantations?
Can they tek the good foot across the green mountains and capture Fort Haldane?
Will Moa and his friend Keverton survive long enough to fight tomorrow?

“De blood will remember!” is the cane warriors’ cry.

Tacky’s leadership in 1760 is recounted in books and family stories, especially in St. Mary’s parish where Trinity and Frontier plantations once watered the fields with the blood of the enslaved. By the author of Home Girl (my review here).

When injustice is known, how can we answer with bravery?
**kmm

Book info: Cane Warriors: a Novel / Alex Wheatle. Akashic Books, 2020. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.