Black Randall

In 1787 732 convicts arrived on the First Fleet from England to found a new colony now known as Australia. They included 11 African Americans and a former slave, John Randall, the author's great (x6) grandfather.Black Randall is the fictionalised true story of a man's struggle to find himself. John risks everything for freedom. He runs away to enlist as a drummer boy in the English Army in the American War of Independence. They promised freedom, but when the English lose, the slavers stream into town, seeking to return him to his master. He escapes to the slums of Manchester, but within months is convicted of theft and left to rot in the holds of The Ceres, a prison hulk moored on the River Thames. After two years, he is loaded onto the Alexander for the voyage to Botany Bay, where the British are to found a new convict settlement. John is a favoured convict and on arrival he is entrusted with a rifle to hunt and explore. His efforts help the colony survive the famine that threatens to destroy them all. A charismatic figure in the infant colony, he marries the vibrant Mary Butler, has a child, is granted land and freedom. It seems he has fulfilled his dreams. But after a lifetime of losses, the death of his daughter breaks him. He concentrates only on proving himself in this white man's world and becomes everything he once hated. John has crossed oceans, but the chains of his youth now bind him. Can he find true freedom? The novel attempts to redress aspects of white colonial history that have been largely ignored or forgotten, by exploring the costs of this fractured man's survival and resilience and his contribution to the birth of our nation.Spanning three continents and world changing events of that era, Black Randall reminds us of the interconnectedness of humankind. The whisperings of disenfranchised (American) settlers became a tidal wave that overthrew England, the mightiest power on earth and sowed the seeds for the birth of a new nation 4000 miles away.

• | Author: Joanne T Braithwaite
• | Publisher: Jo Anne Braithwaite
• | Publication Date: Jan 04, 2023
• | Number of Pages: 408 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Paperback
• | ISBN-10: 0645628808
• | ISBN-13: 9780645628807