The novel opens in 1830 when Wash is eleven years old and is working on Faith Plantation in the Barbados. His life is one tortured by the master and mentored by a woman, Big Kit, who nurtures, advises, and comforts him. One evening Wash is called to be a house slave and it is there he first meets Titch Wilde, the brother of his master and whom we come to find is an abolitionist. Something about Wash impresses Titch and he asks to have the young boy help him in his new project. From there a partnership is formed and with since Wash will be the right size for experimentation in his new invention, the cloud cutter, a hot air balloon. He becomes impressed with Wash's artistic talent and the two become more and more dedicated to the study of nature and the world beyond Barbados.
The adventures that fill the novel are instigated by an horrendous accident involving the balloon, the suicide of a member of the Wilde family, and the realization that Wash will never be safe on the plantation. The maiden voyage of the balloon is fast tracked and Titch and Wash escape the island. From there their journey is by boat to Virginia, then to Canada as Titch looks for his father whom he has been informed is still alive. All the while Wash is being pursued by a bounty hunter who wishes to take him back to Barbados. His further journey is to Nova Scotia where he meets Tanna Goff and her father, Geoffrey, a zoologist. They are impressed by Wash's drawing and enlist him to do the illustrations for Goff's book. Then to London, where he discovers his heritage and Morocco to search for a benevolent friend.
Washington Black is a magical read. The brutalities of slavery are addressed, the miracles of nature described, and the fragility of freedom confronted. If it were not for a review in our local paper right before Edugyan's appearance in Pittsburgh, I probably would not have picked this book up. If I had not, I would have been missing something very special. Unfortunately, the author was not going to sign books the evening of the lecture, but the bookstore that handles the sales of authors' books had agreed to swap my unsigned copy for a pre-signed one. What a fortuitous happenstance that when we arrived at the hall, Ms. Edugyan was pre-signing the books and we were lucky that she offered to sign ours.Her lecture was one of the best that we have attended. She is articulate, erudite, and engaging. I have put her other 2 books on my TBR list.
