Emile has three days to persuade the hospital slaves to return to Martinique. These two cross the sea, finding their way to the Fort Royal hospital where they are greeted by many that remember them including Emile’s beloved Céleste. Emile does everything he can to prevent his younger brother from accompanying him on what he thinks of as a foolish and dangerous mission but Lucien is determined to show he’s just as smart and brave as the brother he quietly idolises but constantly mocks. Emile was once a slave on Grenada before he was sold on leaving his brother – more than ten years his junior – with the friars who took him to Martinique. In December 1765, the war between France and Britain recently over, Father Cléophas has hatched a plan to rescue his friary’s finances, employing a mixed-race slave to help execute his scheme. Based loosely on true events, Sugar Money tells the story of an attempt to bring a group of slaves back from Grenada to Martinique, restoring them from British to French hands. I’ve yet to read the first two, leapfrogging over to Harris’ novel having waited eight years since the wonderful Gillespie and I. First came Colson Whitehead’s Man Booker shortlisted The Underground Railroad followed by Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing and now Jane Harris’ Sugar Money, all exploring the history of slavery. With great characters, a superb narrative set up, and language that is witty and thrillingly alive, Sugar Money is a novel to treasure.There seems to be something of a trend in fiction at the moment, although perhaps three novels are too few to be called that. But with no choice other than to obey Cleophas – and sensing the possibility, however remote, of finding his first love Celeste – he sets out with his brother on this ‘reckless venture’.
While Lucien, barely in his teens, sees the trip as a great adventure, the older and worldlier Emile has no illusions about the dangers they will face.
They must return to Grenada, the island they once called home, and smuggle back the 42 slaves claimed by English invaders at the hospital plantation in Fort Royal. Martinique, 1765, and brothers Emile and Lucien are charged by their French master, Father Cleophas, with a mission. ‘Through masterful detail, Harris shows the dehumanisation of the brothers and their fellow slaves.
‘Harris builds a lush sense of place, and the pace and tension of a rip-roaring adventure here, with derring-do and double-crossing.’ THE TIMES ‘Pitches you headfirst into this outstanding, heartbreaking story of siblings, slavery and the savagery of the colonial past.’ SUNDAY EXPRESS The stunning return from the Orange Prize shortlisted author of The Observations and Gillespie and I
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