Summary

The novel opens on Faith Plantation in Barbados in the year 1830. The plantation is owned and operated by a wealthy Englishman named Richard Black. George Washington “Wash” Black, born in 1818, is a slave on the plantation. The owner of the plantation dies, and then his nephew, Erasmus Wilde, arrives to take over operation of the plantation. In Chapter 2, Wash narrates that he has been raised since early childhood by a middle-aged, female slave named Big Kit. The new master, Erasmus, is cruel and employs violent men as overseers, who badly hurt and kill some of the slaves. Kit plans to kill herself and Wash so that they can be reincarnated in Africa, per their beliefs. However, Erasmus says that he will mutilate the body of any suicide such that reincarnation would be impossible. In Chapter 3, Wash states that he was born...