'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
