Someone Knows My Name

by Lawrence Hill

Overview

Winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. "Wonderfully written...populated by vivid characters and rendered in fascinating detail." —Nancy Kline, New York Times Book ReviewKidnapped from Africa as a child, Aminata Diallo is enslaved in South Carolina but escapes during the chaos of the Revolutionary War. In Manhattan she becomes a scribe for the British, recording the names of blacks who have served the King and earned their freedom in Nova Scotia. But the hardship and prejudice of the new colony prompt her to follow her heart back to Africa, then on to London, where she bears witness to the injustices of slavery and its toll on her life and a whole people. It is a story that no listener, and no reader, will ever forget.Published in Canada as The Book of Negroes and the basis for the award-winning BET miniseries of the same name.

Customer Reviews

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393333091
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	11/10/2008
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	512
Sales rank:	51,509
Product dimensions:	8.24(w) x 5.42(h) x 1.29(d)

About the Author

Lawrence Hill is the author of several novels including Someone Knows My Name, which won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and was nominated in the United States for the Huston Wright Legacy Award. In 2015 Hill was appointed to the Order of Canada “for his contributions as an author and activist who tells the stories of Canada’s black community and of women and girls in Africa.” A graduate of the Writing Seminars at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, he lives in Ontario, Canada.

Editorial Reviews

Astonishing in scope, humanity and beauty, this is one of those very rare novels in which the deep joy of reading transcends its time and place. Like To Kill a Mockingbird, Someone Knows My Name lets readers experience a life, one footstep at a time, beside an unforgettable protagonist.”

Eileen Charbonneau - Historical Novels Review

With grace and compassion, Hill populates true and harrowing experience with an authentic hero—just as good historical fiction requires.

Jennifer Berman - Bookforum

Lawrence Hill's hugely impressive historical work is completely engrossing and deserves a wide, international readership.

Delia Jarrett-Macauley - Washington Post

A masterpiece, daring and impressive in its geographic, historical and human reach.

Globe and Mail

Hill's depiction of [Aminata's] journey to freedom is a powerful tale of pride and perseverance.

Sara Nelson - Oprah.com

An inspirational novel of imaginative excellence and captivating power.... Every step of the way, Lawrence Hill offers readers a vivid portrayal of the emotional landscape that brings Aminata's tale to life. I highly recommend reading this poignant book.

Charles Shea LeMone - Roanoke Times

I found myself surprised on occasion to catch sight of Mr. Hill's name on the cover.... He had me believing that this tale came not from the imagination and research of a 21st-century male author, but from the experience of an 18th-century African woman.

Kim Lundstrom - Real Change