Bookworm in the City

No. 21 – A book with a verb in the title
River Sing Me Home / Eleanor Shearer

This book starts in Barbados, 1843, where Rachel lives on the Providence plantation. Rachel is a woman, a slave, and above all a mother. When she is told that slavery has been abolished, the sudden thought of freedom and what to do with it, fills her determination: she’s going to find her children. Then, the joy is struck down immediately because the overseer informs them that they might be free, but they still have to serve a six-year contract of apprenticeship. It means still no money, no rights, no way to start their lives.
It breaks Rachel and she realizes she can’t be stuck on the plantation for another six years of misery. At night, she lies awake and thinks about the children she’d lost. The ones that died, the ones that weren’t alive when born, and the ones that were taken away and sold. Before she’s aware of what she’s doing she finds herself slipping away in the night, running as fast and as far away as she can, terrified the entire way because she doesn’t know where to go, or if the overseer has already picked up her trail. She only knows one thing: she needs to find her children and she would rather die trying, than not have tried at all.
An island offers only so far you can run, and after a night of running, Rachel reaches its natural border of the sea. Here, she meets Mama B, who runs an abandoned tabaco plantation and offers refuge for runaways. Mama B has helped other women finding their children, and she sets out on helping Rachel as well. Together they walk to Bridgetown, on the other side of the island, because one of the women on the tabaco plantation remembers seeing Mary Grace, one of Rachel’s daughters, there. With the help of Mama B’s network, they narrow down the search for Mary Grace until they locate her as the servant in a dress shop. The reunion fills Rachel’s heart with renewed love, and energy to continue the search for the other children. It’s painful as well, because Mary Grace no longer speaks, muted by the horrors she went through. Mother and daughter need to reacquaint, and learn that they don’t need words to communicate, and they quickly become inseparable.
When someone checks the slave registers for them, they learn that the other four children were sold to plantation owners in British Guyana and Trinidad. And so, they travel to British Guyana first, to continue their search for Micah and Thomas Augustus. On the ship they travel with they connect with Nobody, who has been on the run for a long time, and who decides to give up his life at sea to travel with them. He knows the area a little bit, having sailed there several times before, and the three of them quickly become a team.
They walk from one plantation to the next, before ending up going deep inland, with the help of a native boy, who teaches them to row a canoe, and read the landscape. Although they have been told that the stories of runaways living in the forest along with native tribes are just stories, Rachel knows first hand from her time with Mama B that these places do exist and they continue on their way. When do they find a village of runaways deep in the forest, they stay with them for a while, learning to live in and read the forest, a landscape they are not used to, and come to appreciate the knowledge that the villagers are willing to share with them.
Eventually they continue their way to Trinidad, where it’s more difficult to find their way than before. They don’t know this island, or anybody living there, and it’s more difficult to get their search going. But, Rachel is driven, and Mary Grace and Nobody support her and are ready to follow wherever she needs to go.
Everyone they meet has a story to tell. Everyone is a survivor.
Although not every story has a happy ending, Rachel concludes that it is still better knowing bad things, than not knowing at all.

The book is beautifully written and Rachel is an amazingly strong character. Her own tough life is only touched upon and you’re left to fill in the blanks. Her own story isn’t worth telling, all she can talk about are her children. Every child lost left a hole in her heart and until she knows what became of them, she can’t love anything else.
During the search Rachel learns that there are different kinds of freedom, and that people take different paths to get there.
The story is about intergenerational trauma, how deeply it settles in our dna. It’s about survival and the fight for freedom. Above all, it’s about love.

The story stayed with me for a long time after reading, especially because it is based on true events. The author’s note is an important part of the book so please don’t close the book too soon. But first, I encourage you to open it. If you’re into historical fiction you won’t regret this.