From a flight from slavery in an hot air balloon to surviving blizzards in the Arctic to a maritime science exposition in Victorian London, the eponymous main character in Washington Black literally covers a lot of ground. Born into slavery on a sugar plantation in Barbados, young Washington, nicknamed Wash, is plucked from the fields by the Master’s brother, Titch, in order to assist Titch in his scientific experiments. After a white plantation guest commits suicide, Titch foresees that Washington is likely to catch the (almost certainly deadly) blame, and in the dark of night he spirits Wash away in his experimental flying contraption. From this dramatic start, Wash continues to rack up new and unexpected adventures and settings: slavery-era America, the wilds of the Canadian (British) Arctic, the impoverished free black communities in colonial Nova Scotia, Victorian London, Amsterdam and Morocco. Throughout these travels, Wash remains haunted by visions of the slavecatcher that he believes is still hunting for him, as well as Titch, who disappeared into an Artic blizzard but who Wash believes might still be alive.
The pacing is swift and Edugan’s language is gorgeous- this novel is pure pleasure to read. In addition to the language, Edugan introduces a lot of themes that I’m still unpacking (this is a novel that would stand up well to deconstruction by literary essay)- the nature and types of freedom, science as a complicated passion (a downfall but also a beginning), the politics of race, love and hope, and a commentary on the things we carry with us from our childhood- there is so much here.
Something else that I was thinking about while I was reading (and am still thinking about) is that this was the first fantastical adventure book I’ve read where the main character is a black child. That’t not to say that Wash doesn’t live through the realistic horror of slavery, but his story takes off in way that I hadn’t read before. It reminds me that representation matters, and that black teens should get models showing them that they can be adventure heroes too. Moreover, I realize this doesn’t mean that these stories don’t exist, but rather that I haven’t read them- it’s a blind spot in my own reading history, and something I’ll try and be aware of as I choose what I read going forward.
I will be holding onto this one and rereading it.