A Respectable Trade - Philippa Gregory

...know Anne Boleyn's in for a beheading.

So, when I came across a respectable trade, I was refreshed to see that there were no well-known characters in the plot. No kings, no queens, and no whores with three nipples.

Instead this is a tale of the slave trade, told primarily from the point of view of Frances Scott. When her father dies and she is left penniless and reliant on the charity of her Aunt and Uncle, Frances ...
...the few professions open to a respectable woman in the 1700's.

After an interview with Josiah Cole, a Bristol merchant with his heart set on big things, she is offered a position of a different kind...that of a wife. Trading her social contacts for Josiah's protection, she moves in with Josiah and his bitter sister in a stinking river warehouse, Frances has come down in the world. But with her husband’s ambitious plans for the import ... more

I love historical novels, and Phillippa Gregory is probably one of my favourite historical authors. Her most well known works deal with the Tudor and Elizabethan Court, and excellent though these works are, they contain characters I am already familiar with, and although her style of writing is gripping, it doesn't mask the fact that I know Anne Boleyn's in for a beheading.

So, when I came across a respectable trade, I was refreshed to see that there were no well-known characters in the plot. No kings, no queens, and no whores with three nipples.

Instead this is a tale of the slave trade, told primarily from the point of view of Frances Scott. When her father dies and she is left penniless and reliant on the charity of her Aunt and Uncle, Frances decides to seek a living as a governess, one of the few professions open to a respectable woman in the 1700's.

After an interview with Josiah Cole, a Bristol merchant with his heart set on big things, she is offered a position of a different kind...that of a wife. Trading her social contacts for Josiah's protection, she moves in with Josiah and his bitter sister in a stinking river warehouse, Frances has come down in the world. But with her husband’s ambitious plans for the import of slaves, she will not be down and out for long.

Forced by her ambitious husband into the role of slave trainer, she forces herself to come down hard on the Africans stolen from their homeland. But when she falls in love with Mehuru, an African priest now forced to lie in shackles, she finds her beliefs, her respectability, and her heart facing their biggest challenge ever.

Can love overcome the boundaries of race and social status? Can it overcome anger and pride?

In keeping with Gregory’s other works the characters are well developed and each individual character stands out. Frances in particular is a great character, starting out as the model of a respectable wife (dumb, silent, and obedient) she develops a fiery personality as her involvement in both her husbands trade and her personal involvement with the slaves develops. You really get into her character and experience her feelings of torn loyalties.

Josiah is another interesting character, Despite him being a money grabber and overly ambitious, he also portrays a weaker side to his personality, particularly when he is gulled into a series of shady business deals against the advice of his wife.

The subject the book chose to tackle is a tricky one, and Gregory did a good job, managing to give each slave (however minor the role in the book) individual characteristics and histories that mark them out against each other. Yoruban beliefs are well researched, as are various other aspects of African culture. Some of the accounts are quite harrowing, particularly in scenes where the dumping overboard of the slave cargo to claim fraudulent insurance is described.

Also not for the faint hearted are various scenes of rape and a few overly gory descriptions of diseases and beatings. While I'm the sort of person who relishes the gory details, the more sensitive amongst you may find parts of this book upsetting and disturbing.

Bouviers 1856 law dictionary has a slave defined as follows ''A man who is by law deprived of his liberty for life, and becomes the property of another. A slave has no political rights, and generally has no civil rights. He can enter into no contract unless specially authorized by law; what he acquires generally, belongs to his master. The children of female slaves follow the condition of their mothers, and are themselves slaves....slaves are regarded as chattels, not as people.''

The slaves as property attitude is demonstrated many times throughout the book, both in actions and in words. For example, the slaves were forced to wear dog collars stating thier slave names (part of their training was the theft of their identity, including replacing their own names with biblical names) the words "Josiah Cole" on them, signifying who they belonged to-who's property they were. At points in the book, statements such as "Moses I know that you're our property, but I hope that you don't think ill of us." made by the main charachters further reinforce the social attitudes of the time.

Although the characters in the book are entirely fictiitous, they are entirely believable and could just as easily have been real people. As England second port, in the 1700's much money was made in Bristol through the kidnap of slaves from africa to be sold in the citys open air slave markets. Slaves were shackled and packed below deck like sardines for long sea journeys, often going without food for days. In such confined athmospheres diseases quickly spread and many slaves died on the journey. Often less than half the number of slaves packed onto a ship would make it to england alive, and often these would be young children, stolen from their parents. Around this period, people began to oppose the slave trade, with revolts by the slaves themselves to campaigns to ban slavery by many well educated men. All this is included in the book, which is well researched and historically accurate as far as a work of fiction can be.

For me, the books a gem. Once again, Gregory tackles history sensitively and accurately. The book never once loses its sense of drama, and is gripping right up to the last page. A wonderful piece of historical fiction that I recommend heartily. Published by HarperCollins,It can be found on amazon.co.uk at £6.39.

Thanks for reading.

ISBN: 0006473377

 

...less