It was the Guyana-born poet's first novel, The story takes place on a Virginian plantation, in the period before the American Civil War, between 1790 and 1810.

It begins in the first person, with Whitechapel, the oldest and most respected slave on the plantation, recounting the sorrows of his life.

However his father, Whitechapel, betrays his whereabouts, fearing that his son will die if he is not captured and returned home to the plantation.

It is then finished with extracts from the Virginian local newspaper of the year 1810 having direct connections with the events of the story.

Praising the novel in her review in The Independent, Ruth Padel wrote: "Lyric optimism from rottenness and violence: a brilliant - and beautiful - achievement.