Description

‘This boy has bought me. This white boy who don’t even look as old as I am. He owns me body and soul, and my worth has been set at six hundred dollars.’

Samuel’s an educated boy. Been taught by a priest. He was never supposed to be a slave. He’s a good boy too, thoughtful and kind. The type of boy who’d take the blame for something he didn’t do, if it meant he could save his brother. So now they don’t call him Samuel anymore. And the sound of guns is getting ever closer . . .

An extraordinary tale of endurance and hope, Jon Walter’s second novel is a beautiful and moving story about the power of belief and the strength of the human spirit, set against the terrifying backdrop of the American Civil War.

Publisher Review

'It isn't often I'm left lost for words, but that's the way I felt when I finished reading this superb YA novel . . . It's epic in scale, but built out of the smallest things - great sentences and great dialogue . . . it will keep you utterly gripped' The Guardian ; 'This is an epic, vivid, emotionally involving, thought-provoking novel from a writer of distinction' The Sunday Times Children's Book of the Week