Not With Silver - Tapa dura

Abiola is a clever young warrior in West Africa, part of a highly developed, ritualised society, rich not only in trade but in metaphorical and spiritual understanding. But neither his prowess nor the sophistication of his culture can save him from betrayal, capture and being sold into slavery. Abiola's story ends with the first part of this novel. In the second part, he has a new name - Cornelius. And the life of Cornelius is completely different from that of Abiola. He is the property of a Frenchman who sells harpsichords in the American South.

Not With Silver is an involving fiction, set against the background of true historical events. Cornelius runs away and joins the British who are fighting the Americans. If the British win, he reasons, he may gain his freedom. But the British lose the American War of Independence, and Cornelius and his family flee to the snowy misery of Nova Scotia.

From Canada, they are eventually repatriated back to West Africa - the story comes full circle, and Sierra Leone is named as the home of freed slaves. But all is not as Cornelius had dreamed: Sierra Leone is run, like a colony, by white men, and though trading in slaves has been officially banned, in practice it continues, ever more lucrative for being driven underground. His daughter, Epiphany, however, has discovered that she has the same gift of metaphorical and spiritual understanding as her ancestors...