River Sing Me Home

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What to expect

Powerful, moving and redemptive, RIVER SING ME HOME tells of a mother's desperate search to find her stolen children and her freedom.

We whisper the names of the ones we love like the words of a song. That was the taste of freedom to us, those names on our lips.

Mary Grace, Micah, Thomas Augustus, Cherry Jane and Mercy.

These are the names of her children. The five who survived, only to be sold to other plantations. The faces Rachel cannot forget.

It's 1834, and the law says her people are now free. But for Rachel freedom means finding her children, even if the truth is more than she can bear.

With fear snapping at her heels, Rachel keeps moving. From sunrise to sunset, through the cane fields of Barbados to the forests of British Guiana and on to Trinidad, to the dangerous river and the open sea.

Only once she knows their stories can she rest.

Only then can she finally find home.

(P) 2023 Headline Publishing Group Ltd

Critics Review

Every once in a while, a book comes along that is so assured and so powerful you can't believe it's a debut novel. RIVER SING ME HOME is just such a book . . . Eleanor Shearer is a remarkable writer and she brings this story of a mother's courage to the page with compassion, tenderness and pitch-perfect prose
Natasha Lester, New York Times bestselling author of The Riviera House
An extraordinary odyssey of pain, love, and homecoming . . . RIVER SING ME HOME is a haunting and powerful debut
Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Diamond Eye
A strong and beautiful novel that stares into the face of brutality and the heart of love
Jeanette Winterson
Epic and lyrical, a story about love and the power it brings us
Frank Cottrell-Boyce
A searing debut full of love, loss, and the shadows of the past . . . Heartbreaking, hopeful, and unforgettable. Both a powerful ode to the endless depths of a mother's love and an important meditation on what freedom really means, this is the kind of book that will stay with readers for years to come
Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author
An extraordinary and gripping debut. Rachel's love for her children resonates through each page as she fights for her freedom and theirs. A must-read!
Chanel Cleeton
A powerful story, beautifully told. Shearer skilfully depicts the cruelty of the British slave trade, contrasted with one mother's indomitable love for her children, and her burning will to live. An empathic, elegantly rendered and deeply humane novel
Jessica Moor
A powerful novel that explores how freedom and family are truly defined
Marie Benedict, New York Times bestselling co-author of The Personal Librarian
RIVER SING ME HOME is a masterclass in how to speak of unspeakable things. A beautiful read
Meg Clothier
RIVER SING ME HOME slices you open . . . and knits you back up again. A powerful account of love, loss, defiance and the lengths to which a mother will go in order to make herself and her family whole again. Breathtaking
Chikodili Emelumadu
Lyrical, heartbreaking, thought-provoking . . . A book about love, motherhood and survival that will stay with you long after you've finished it'
Costanza Casati
I absolutely loved this book and Eleanor Shearer's lyrical prose kept me gripped as the story moved from Barbados to Demerara and Trinidad . . . a beautifully written debut
Stacey Thomas
Propulsive . . . This compelling premise of a mother in search of her children powers a moving and dynamic novel. The pacing is swift, and Shearer writes in clear, energetic prose. There is an accessibility to the language that is refreshing; it buoys the narrative, giving us intimate access to a complex period in history
Guardian
An immersive debut . . . the heart of the novel lies in its celebration of motherhood and female resilience. A tender exploration of one woman's courage in the face of unbelievable cruelty
Observer
The beautifully written depiction of a mother longing for her children makes this transcendent
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Early readers of RIVER SING ME HOME are evangelical about this story . . . Full of love and compassion, this will be everywhere next year
Stylist
A powerful, gripping and poetic novel about the strength of a mother's love
Red
Such a glorious and compelling story
Prima
A cracking debut
Belfast Telegraph
Hugely profound, hopeful and emotive this is written in lyrical prose that demonstrates Shearer's mastery of language
Glamour
Action-packed, emotionally demanding, richly described, the novel paints an extraordinary portrait of motherly love and hope . . . a thoroughly compelling read
Daily Mail
An intense and absorbing debut
The Times
River Sing Me Home is a fine testament to the women who inspired this debut
The Sunday Times
Lyrical, heart-wrenching and so well crafted
Goodreads Reviewer
A triumph of tragedy and hope
Goodreads Reviewer
An extraordinary tale of fearlessness, passion, motherly love and hope
NetGalley Reviewer
This debut novel does exactly what I want historic fiction to do - teach me something while telling me a good story
Goodreads Reviewer
The most moving, beautiful, heart-breaking yet hopeful book I've read this year.
Goodreads Reviewer
A novel which explored, with courage, care and capability, the illusory nature of freedom at a critical point in West Indian history. I was riveted by Rachel's story and it is a testament to Eleanor's craft that I felt every fraught element of Rachel's journey to finding her children right along with her. Like the River of its title, this novel sings . . . a beautiful debut
Cherie Jones, Women's Prize for Fiction shortlisted author of How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House

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