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The End of the World and Beyond
Convicted of thievery and transported from England to America, Oliver Cromwell Pitts, shackled to his fellow prisoners, endures inedible food, filthy conditions, and deadly storms on his voyage across the Atlantic. But the hazardous shipboard journey is nothing compared to the peril that waits for him on the colonial shores. Reviews
“Told in Oliver's unforgettable voice, the novel paints a vivid picture of the horror of the voyage, the convict passengers forced to stand stooped over in the tween deck, bolted to the planking by iron chains around their necks. ("It was as if we were being fitted into a group coffin.") The captain is Elijah Krets, "a spite-tempered, hufty-tufty man, well-suited for the ship's previous satanic service, that of a chattel slave ship.") Oliver dreads what awaits; he can read and write but these talents are not valued by the Maryland folk looking for free labor. Oliver finds himself in a miserable situation, on a remote plantation with a drunken, vicious master. His only solace is the black slave Bara who, unlike Oliver, cannot hope to be freed in seven years' time. Amid the beatings, hunger and exhaustion of working in the tobacco fields, Oliver clings to the hope of being reunited with his sister Charity who is somewhere in this strange, new world.” (Buffalo News) |
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