SLAVE SPY

In Wade’s debut historical novel, a young man gets caught up in the movement to outlaw slavery in the British Empire, eventually becoming a spy to uncover and report the behavior of slave owners.

In late-18th-century London, Perlman’s father, Mordecai, is a tailor who wants his son to follow the trade and lead an inconspicuous life. But when Lazarus meets the activist Thomas Clarkson, he knows that he’s found a worthy cause—the abolition of the British slave trade. Lazarus volunteers to sail to Barbados and expose the brutality of slave owners. This, he hopes, will put the lie to the propaganda of the planters’ lobby and force Parliament to finally outlaw the buying and selling of human beings. In Barbados, he sets himself up as a tailor and ingratiates himself with the sugar cane plantation owners, the aristocracy of the island. They’re a hatefully brutal bunch—racist, arrogant, entitled, and gratuitously cruel. The slaves, however, are unfailingly kind and helpful to the young idealist. The leader of the planters’ society, Lord Harrington, is especially vicious, raping slave girls and mutilating any other slaves who cross him. Lazarus reports Harrington’s evil deeds to the Anti-Slavery Society, but his cover is blown and he must flee for his life. Wade’s debut novel is remarkably graceful and thoughtful. Not only is this an extended examination of the evils of slavery—Britain abolished the sale of slaves in 1807 and the owning of slaves in 1833—but it’s also a bildungsroman of Lazarus Perlman. At the end, the protagonist is shown to be unsure if he’s done very much good—a humility that speaks well of him, because we, as readers, know that he has. Barely out of his teens, he shows himself to be a formidable fighter for humanity who would have made his father proud. Overall, the book effectively speaks against intolerance and cruelty that persist to the present day.

A passionately written book that bodes well for the author’s future efforts.