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Chains
Chains come in many forms. To escape being trapped as a useless, ornamental 'lady', Juliet takes her brother's place on a shocking, dangerous voyage, slave trading to Africa. While escaping from her old life, through the horrors of slave trading and a slave revolt, she meets other youngsters on her life-changing journey; Polly, a child trapped in service; Dand, a Scottish farm lad kidnapped and sold in Africa; Hassan, proud son of an African slave trader; Bert, escaped ex-sweep, hoping to become an able seaman when he's 15; little Gbodi, eerily focussed on revenge on all the people who have enslaved her. Which of them will survive? A strong, exciting, fast-moving story for young adults, of violent, callous times, which may challenge your ideas about slavery and those involved in many aspects of it.
162 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2000
22 people want to read
About the author
Frances Mary Hendry
26 books26 followersFrances Mary Hendry is a British writer of children's historical fiction. Born and educated in Glasgow, Scotland she now resides in Nairn, where many of her books are set.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 22, 2017
The awful trade in people.
This was the first tree book I've read for several years, mainly because it was suggested that I might sleep better. It was an interesting experience, after being a Kindle reader for so long, although I'm not sure my sleep was improved.
This novel has a really appealing cover and It's been a while since I read a book on slavery, but the book wasn't particularly well written and on several occasions I gave up on paragraphs that I simply could not untangle. Sadly this has affected my rating, because the idea of the book, to illustrate a number of ways in which slavery operated at the turn of the nineteenth century, should have worked well.
Being a Young Adult book, the consensus was on five teenagers.
Bert had stowed away on a slaving ship and was now apprenticed to become an able seaman by the age of 16.
Dand had got very drunk during a visit to his local market and become press-ganged into crew for another slaving ship; he is to be sold as a slave when they arrive in Jamaica.
Juliet's father owned a number of trading vessels and one of his products was slaves; she swapped with her cowardly brother to take his place on one of her father's ships, as a boy.
Hassan's father was also a slave trader, although he didn't own the ships, but things didn't go as planned when he travelled with his father to learn the trade.
Ghobi's African family was largely slaughtered, as traders rampaged through the villages, stealing survivors for the slave trade. She is only twelve but her ability to stay aloof and calm the others with admonitions to 'smile and await your chance for revenge', results in her becoming a bit of a leader (medicine woman) amongst the villagers.
Eventually the five teenagers meet up on The Kestrel, Juliet's father's ship. They learn from each other, that slaves are humans with feelings and that slavery is an abominable trade.
Whilst this is an important lesson and the book has a high moral value, it is a pretty graphic read for youngsters, with slaves packed densely in the ships' holds and bloated bodies suffering from cholera, to give just two examples. Maybe not suited for those of sensitive disposition.
This was the first tree book I've read for several years, mainly because it was suggested that I might sleep better. It was an interesting experience, after being a Kindle reader for so long, although I'm not sure my sleep was improved.
This novel has a really appealing cover and It's been a while since I read a book on slavery, but the book wasn't particularly well written and on several occasions I gave up on paragraphs that I simply could not untangle. Sadly this has affected my rating, because the idea of the book, to illustrate a number of ways in which slavery operated at the turn of the nineteenth century, should have worked well.
Being a Young Adult book, the consensus was on five teenagers.
Bert had stowed away on a slaving ship and was now apprenticed to become an able seaman by the age of 16.
Dand had got very drunk during a visit to his local market and become press-ganged into crew for another slaving ship; he is to be sold as a slave when they arrive in Jamaica.
Juliet's father owned a number of trading vessels and one of his products was slaves; she swapped with her cowardly brother to take his place on one of her father's ships, as a boy.
Hassan's father was also a slave trader, although he didn't own the ships, but things didn't go as planned when he travelled with his father to learn the trade.
Ghobi's African family was largely slaughtered, as traders rampaged through the villages, stealing survivors for the slave trade. She is only twelve but her ability to stay aloof and calm the others with admonitions to 'smile and await your chance for revenge', results in her becoming a bit of a leader (medicine woman) amongst the villagers.
Eventually the five teenagers meet up on The Kestrel, Juliet's father's ship. They learn from each other, that slaves are humans with feelings and that slavery is an abominable trade.
Whilst this is an important lesson and the book has a high moral value, it is a pretty graphic read for youngsters, with slaves packed densely in the ships' holds and bloated bodies suffering from cholera, to give just two examples. Maybe not suited for those of sensitive disposition.
June 18, 2020
Svær bog at anmelde. Den siges at være en ungdomsbog, men man skal godt nok være et modent og indsigtsfuldt ungt menneske for at læse denne bog. Den er rough!
Det er en ret historisk korrekt fortælling om slavehandel med udgangspunkt i fire meget forskellige unge mennesker, hvis historier i løbet af bogen flettes sammen.
Beskrivelsen af behandlingen af slaver er meget detaljeret, og det er ikke rar læsning for nogen. Jeg er meget splittet mellem at synes, at det er en vigtig bog, fordi den viser, råt for usødet, hvordan folk tænkte dengang, og hvilke argumenter folk brugte for at opretholde slavehandel - også de sorte slavehandlere. Samtidig synes jeg det ville være en god idé, hvis bogen i forordet kunne advare om stærkt sprogbrug og evt pointere, at der ikke er lagt skjul på noget netop for at vise hvor grusom det var dengang - men at tiderne har ændret sig, og at man under ingen omstændigheder kalder sorte mennesker nigger længere. Bogen er fra 2000, og jeg undrer mig derfor lidt over den manglende perspektivering til nutiden, som nemt kunne have været en del af forordene eller efterskriften.
Det skal dog siges, at jeg fik bogen gratis fra et bibliotel der ville smide den ud for efterhånden en del år siden. Jeg ved slet ikke om den er i handlen længere.
Det er en ret historisk korrekt fortælling om slavehandel med udgangspunkt i fire meget forskellige unge mennesker, hvis historier i løbet af bogen flettes sammen.
Beskrivelsen af behandlingen af slaver er meget detaljeret, og det er ikke rar læsning for nogen. Jeg er meget splittet mellem at synes, at det er en vigtig bog, fordi den viser, råt for usødet, hvordan folk tænkte dengang, og hvilke argumenter folk brugte for at opretholde slavehandel - også de sorte slavehandlere. Samtidig synes jeg det ville være en god idé, hvis bogen i forordet kunne advare om stærkt sprogbrug og evt pointere, at der ikke er lagt skjul på noget netop for at vise hvor grusom det var dengang - men at tiderne har ændret sig, og at man under ingen omstændigheder kalder sorte mennesker nigger længere. Bogen er fra 2000, og jeg undrer mig derfor lidt over den manglende perspektivering til nutiden, som nemt kunne have været en del af forordene eller efterskriften.
Det skal dog siges, at jeg fik bogen gratis fra et bibliotel der ville smide den ud for efterhånden en del år siden. Jeg ved slet ikke om den er i handlen længere.
March 28, 2017
An interesting insight in to slavery and the dark past of the tobacco trade.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews