'A great storyteller and a fabulous actor. Well done sir!' DAVID HAREWOOD 'Phenomenal! Highly
recommended.' MALORIE BLACKMAN 'An absolutely thrilling throat-catching wonder of a historical
novel. Hugely recommended.' STEPHEN FRY For fans of The Miniaturist and The Confessions of
Frannie Langton comes this award-winning novel of illuminating historical fiction. Meet Charles
Ignatius Sancho: his extraordinary story hidden for three hundred years is about to be told.
I had little right to live born on a slave ship where my parents both died. But I survived
and indeed you might say I did more... It's 1746 and Georgian London is not a safe place for a
young Black man especially one who has escaped slavery. After the twinkling lights in the
Fleet Street coffee shops are blown out and the great houses have closed their doors for the
night Sancho must dodge slave catchers and worse. The man he hoped would help - a kindly duke
who taught him to write - is dying. Sancho is desperate and utterly alone. So how does Charles
Ignatius Sancho meet the King write and play highly acclaimed music become the first Black
person to vote in Britain and lead the fight to end slavery? It's time for him to tell his
story one that begins on a tempestuous Atlantic Ocean and ends at the very centre of London
life. And through it all he must ask: born amongst death how much can you achieve in one
short life? Utterly infectious. - The Times The Times and Sunday Times HISTORICAL BOOK OF THE
MONTH
