“Money is sacred as everyone knows... So then must be the hunger for it and the means we use to obtain it. Once a man is in debt he becomes a flesh and blood form of money, a walking investment. You can do what you like with him, you can work him to death or you can sell him. This cannot be called cruelty or greed because we are seeking only to recover our investment and that is a sacred duty.”
Plot: Matthew Paris takes a job as a slave ship's physician. Silently outraged at the treatment of the crew, many of which were essentially kidnapped to serve on the ship, Paris' anger only increases once the slaves are brought on the ship. Treated as inhuman cargo, their health and that of the crew disintegrates while at sea. Dead bodies are thrown overboard, soon followed by sick slaves. Eventually a mutiny and revolt occurs. The survivors end up on the coast of Florida and establish a community of ex-crew members and slaves. Despite living in harmony, the owners of the slave ship are determined to find them.
Why read it: Unsworth takes on so many aspects of slavery here - the brutality, inhumaneness, the greed and doesn't spare the details. He shows us lives being ripped apart all along the process simply for money.
A book my wife bought me years ago, and which I doubt I would have ever read otherwise, which would be a sad thing. Historical novels are not generally my thing, though there have been lots of exceptions. This is a tremendous novel - it's dark, unrelenting and powerful in exposing the overwhelming impulse of human greed and what it will allow people to do.
Matthew Paris, who was spent time in prison for some heretical writings on the age of the Earth (this is 1750's England), and whose wife died while he was in prison, takes a job a ship's surgeon on his cousin's slave ship. Unsworth goes into great detail about how the crew for the ship is secured; mostly by tricking or kidnapping the local poor. This leads to a less than stellar crew, but once at sea, they have little choice. Paris is completely out of his element on the ship. He argues with the ship's captain, who is motivated only by profit (sacred hunger) and treats the crew as almost subhuman. Paris, as the surgeon, gets better treatment, but is morally outraged at what is happening.
The situation only gets worse when they get to Guinea. The ship captain deals with the local population to obtain slaves to buy. They abduct slaves from tribes further inland in exchange for cheap British goods of little value. Back at sea, conditions are deplorable, the slaves crammed into a space far too small for them. The torture is not just physical however; many of the slaves attempt suicide and the crew spends much of their time trying to prevent them from doing so. Illness is common and bodies are thrown overboard. Rations to the crew and slaves get cut to save money, and illness hits, leading to an increasingly uneasy voyage. Eventually the captain decides to throw all the slaves overboard, as so many have died or become ill, that an insurance payment is seen as more profitable than the slaves will be. This leads to a full scale revolt of both crew and slaves.
Eventually, the ship ends up in Florida and is presumed lost. The slaves and remaining crew establish a new home, their version of Utopia where everyone lives equal.
Unfortunately, Paris' cousin, who has held a lifelong grudge against him, and is now the owner of his father's shipping business, is determined to track down the lost ship, whatever it's fate. The twin stories of Paris and his cousin are presented alternately throughout the book, as their fates come closer and closer to meeting.
The descriptions in this book of the slave trade are unflinching and graphic, as is the lust for greed evident in many of the characters, which allows them to think of other people as merely a means to more money. Given the time period this book was written 9 (published in 1992) it has parallels to the money driven attitudes of the 1980's. This is a powerful book; simply written, though in great detail and not afraid to show the depths of our weaknesses.
