Book Review: Cambridge by Caryl Phillips

The setup of Cambridge by Caryl Phillips is very promising: we get two perspectives on slavery in the English-speaking Caribbean, one from a white Englishwoman visiting her family’s plantation, and another from one of the human beings she owns.

To some extent, the book delivers on its promise. It’s set in the early 19th century, in the period between the abolition of the slave trade and Emancipation. With the institution of slavery increasingly under attack, the young Emily Cartwright devotes a lot of time in her narrative to defending it, prompted it seems by a combination of racist ignorance, family loyalty, and credulous acceptance of everything she is told by the local whites.

Then comes Cambridge’s account, which completely undercuts Emily’s. For one thing, it shows him to be an intelligent man and an eloquent writer, not the dumb brute she takes him for. And for another, where his account overlaps with hers, it shows events in a very different light from the way she has presented them.

On his blog A Writer’s Life, British novelist Andrew Blackman shares book reviews, insights into the writing process and the latest literary news, as well as listing short story contests with a total of more than $250,000 in prize money.