A book about the love of friends and the joys of existence

Now I have read it and reread it, and have come to accept the characters as old friends.... Indeed, I feel about going to Africa very much as the sea-faring rat did when he almost made the water-rat wish to forsake everything and start wandering!

For generations of English children, the gentle adventures of Mole, Rat, Badger, Toad and the other characters from The Wind In The Willows have been part of the magic of growing up; a world of innocence and simplicity too soon left behind

It is a book that breaks nearly every rule of modern children's fiction...it wasn't about fairies at the bottom of the garden, but it was about magic - just the right kind of magic. It thrills me still to read it.

Wears its thorough research lightly... fitting that this ambitious revision of slave narratives should have won the overall Commonwealth Writers' Prize in the year that the American electorate demolished one of its most persistent categories of exclusion

Epic... a compelling tale well told... an important story to tell, one that gives a sense of individuality to people who might otherwise be drowned out in the tragic chorus of history

[Hill] has an easy style and a fine sense of pace that make this a gripping, if horrifying story

Wonderfully written... populated by vivid characters and rendered in fascinating detail

Lawrence Hill's hugely impressive historical work is completely engrossing and deserves a wide, international readership

A powerful indictment of the way in which so many innocent victims were robbed of everything dear to them

An unforgettably vivid picture of the Atlantic slave trade... a remarkable achievement, which deservedly won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize

A masterpiece, daring and impressive in its geographic, historical and human reach, convincing in its narrative art and detail

Aminata is a heroic figure... you can never forget this character. She embeds herself in your heart