The Book of Night Women

Name: The Book of Night Women
SKU: 97781
Availability: InStock

₦13,500.00

By the Man Booker-winning author Marlon James, this is the powerful story of Lilith, born into slavery on a Jamaican sugar plantation at the end of the eighteenth century. Even at her birth, the Night Women – a clandestine council of fierce slaves plotting an island-wide revolt – recognize a dark force in her that they treat with both reverence and fear. But as Lilith comes of age and begins to understand her own feelings and identity, she dares to push at the edges of what is imaginable for the life of a slave woman. And as rebellions simmer and unspoken jealousies intensify, Lilith’s powers and sense of purpose threaten not just her own destiny, but the destinies of all the slave women in Jamaica.

8 in stock

The Book of Night Women is a beautifully written, sweeping tale of Jamaican slavery set in the early 19th century. The story centers on Lilith, a slave born on the Montpelier Estate, a large sugar plantation, where life is ruled by danger and fear. Lilith comes of age and kills a black slave driver who attempts to rape her. This event marks Lilith from the other slaves, who begin to both fear and revere her for they sense that she possess a dark power hidden within. Members of a group which calls itself the Night Women keep their eye on Lilith and bring her into their secret circle. At their meetings, Lilith learns they are plotting a slave revolt of massive proportion that involves several plantations. She hesitates to participate, but the Night Women see her as a force that could really help their cause, and Lilith is torn between her feelings.

Review

A startling, hard-edged dissection of slavery and a tour de force of both voice and storytelling

‘A story of such depth and humanity that you’ll want to spend hours picking apart the nuances even as you recover emotionally from this wrenching read.’ Vogue