![]() In a landscape where “every shadow held a threat”, the resourceful, proud brothers, who are so protective of each other, are unbearably vulnerable. The cost of being caught would be great and Harris ramps up the tension. Augustin, who loves the French language so is reluctant to speak in English, is nailed by his ear to a hut while others have iron weights around their ankles or spiked collars on their necks. The rape and abuse of female slaves is commonplace and the punishment meted out for minor mistakes is horrific. On Grenada, the “Goddamns”, English and Scottish plantation owners, are beyond vicious. Lucien’s back “is ridged with an island of scars, a map of tyranny, and a permanent reminder of our father”, a slave owner who beat him with a table leg and punched him until he passed out. Jane Harris is unflinching in her descriptions of their horrifying lives. It is not a good omen and, as Lucien says, “Both of us perturb by how gullible we had been.” Determined to act more sensibly, Emile, who could “out-slink a cat”, constantly urges caution on their unenviable endeavour but Lucien, prickly and “all up in the snuff with him for flinging orders at me what seem like a thousand times per second”, always manages to make their predicament more precarious.Īnd it is precarious, scary and dangerous, too. The brothers arrive by boat, captained by Bianco who pretends to be deaf and dumb but is anything but, as he reveals to the siblings after they have discussed their secret plans in front of him. ![]()
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