MEET THE TEN …

Goddaughter to the Queen of England. Human rights activist. Librarian and author. Former slave . . . These ten inspiring children grew up in a time when slavery was still legal in most of the world and people who looked like them weren’t expected to become important. But they did! The ten all went on to change the world through their acts of rebellion, bravery and adventure that helped secure their freedom and the freedom of so many from slavery.

But how did these inspirational people change the world? To answer that, we’ll have to go back in time and met the ten aged ten, where their stories truly began . . .

· Meet Seaman William Brown, real name unknown, who’s love of adventure finds her sneaking aboard a British Royal Navy ship disguised as a man to explore the world beyond Grenada.

· Get to know Ira Frederick Aldridge as he joins the Free African Americans School in New York and discovers his love of performing.

· Celebrate Billy Sancho’s tenth birthday around the corner from Downing Street, London. Little does he know that he will become the first black librarian.

· Return to Africa with Omoba Ina (know as Sara Forbes Bonetta), who has been sent to Sierra Leone by her godmother Queen Victoria, to become a missionary.

Discover the untold stories of these remarkable children as well as Phillis Wheatley, Ira Frederick Aldridge, Dido Elizabeth Belle, John Edmonstone, William Cuffay, and Mary Prince Daniels. From Wonka actor and award-winning author of The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho, Paterson Joseph.

‘Phenomenal! Highly recommended.’ MALORIE BLACKMAN

‘An absolutely thrilling, throat-catching wonder of a historical novel. Hugely recommended.’ STEPHEN FRY

For fans of The Miniaturist and The Confessions of Frannie Langton comes this award-winning novel of illuminating historical fiction.

Meet Charles Ignatius Sancho: his extraordinary story, hidden for three hundred years, is about to be told.

I had little right to live, born on a slave ship where my parents both died. But I survived, and indeed, you might say I did more…

It’s 1746 and Georgian London is not a safe place for a young Black man, especially one who has escaped slavery. After the twinkling lights in the Fleet Street coffee shops are blown out and the great houses have closed their doors for the night, Sancho must dodge slave catchers and worse. The man he hoped would help – a kindly duke who taught him to write – is dying. Sancho is desperate and utterly alone.

So how does Charles Ignatius Sancho meet the King, write and play highly acclaimed music, become the first Black person to vote in Britain and lead the fight to end slavery?

It’s time for him to tell his story, one that begins on a tempestuous Atlantic Ocean, and ends at the very centre of London life. And through it all, he must ask: born amongst death, how much can you achieve in one short life?

“Utterly infectious.” – The Times

The Times and Sunday Times HISTORICAL BOOK OF THE MONTH