This historical novel was a WINNER in the young adult section of the Kindle Book Award 2014.
The book is a work of historical fiction, but all the main events in the story really happened. In 1568 two young boys, one African and one English, are brought together on a voyage which will transform their lives.
When Madu, a young African, sets out to capture a leopard on his manhood training, he has no idea that a much fiercer predator, the English slave trader Sir John Hawkins, is sailing towards Africa to capture him. On board Hawkins’s ship is Tom Oakley, an English boy who knows little and cares less about the African slaves they have come to kidnap and sell across the ocean.
But nothing is certain at sea, and disaster can strike at any time. In the Spanish colonies of the New World, the boys find their roles reversed. Forced to put their early hatred aside, they come to trust each other more than either would have once thought possible. But nothing in Elizabethan times was easy, and this story is based on real events. As Sir John Hawkins wrote in his own account of this voyage:
If all the miseries and troublesome affaires of this sorowfull voyage should be perfectly and thoroughly written, there should neede a painefull man with his pen, and as great a time as he had that wrote the lives and deaths of the Martyrs.’
Praise for Nobody’s Slave.
‘I almost think that this book should be taught in the high schools as it gives such a human “face” to slavery in Africa and at the hands of the English.’ Brenda Maxwell, LibraryThing.
‘Mr Vicary writes with a skillful grasp of action mixed with emotion, a delicate balance that is only outdone by the attention to historical detail that gives “Nobody’s Slave” such a genuine resonance.’ Kaylee Stevens, Goodreads.
‘I really enjoy reading and learning about something at the same time and this book was so interesting I didn’t realize I was actually learning something!’ Annabella Johnson, Librarything.
‘Ripped from some of the most evil parts of our history … “Nobody’s Slave” celebrates the human spirit in an unexpected and touching way. I was particularly touched by the authenticity that Mr Vicary brought to the scenes and characters … This author has done his homework and it shows.’ Claire Middleton, Goodreads.
Buy Nobody’s Slave (Paperback / E-Book/Audiobook)
Listen to an audio sample here: