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The End of the World and Beyond

The End of the World and Beyond

Algo­nquin Young Read­ers, 2019

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audio book nar­rat­ed by 
James Langton

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What’s this book about?

Con­vict­ed of thiev­ery and trans­port­ed from Eng­land to Amer­i­ca, Oliv­er Cromwell Pitts, shack­led to his fel­low pris­on­ers, endures ined­i­ble food, filthy con­di­tions, and dead­ly storms on his voy­age across the Atlantic. But the haz­ardous ship­board jour­ney is noth­ing com­pared to the per­il that waits for him on the colo­nial shores.
 
In Annapo­lis, Oliver’s inden­tured servi­tude is pur­chased by the foul, miser­ly Fitzhugh, who may have mur­dered anoth­er ser­vant. On Fitzhugh’s iso­lat­ed tobac­co farm, Oliver’s only com­pan­ion is an enslaved boy named Bara. Oliv­er and Bara become fast friends with one pow­er­ful goal: to escape Fitzhugh. Oliv­er hopes he can find his sis­ter, Char­i­ty, brought some­where in the colonies on a dif­fer­ent ship. Bara dreams of reach­ing a com­mu­ni­ty of free black peo­ple in the cypress swamp who may help him gain his lib­er­ty. But first the boys must flee Fitzhugh’s plan­ta­tion and out­run their bru­tal pur­suer and the dan­gers that lurk in the swamp.

Story Behind the Story

From a writ­ers’ point of view, I have been blessed inso­far as I’ve nev­er real­ly been at a loss for ideas for my nov­els. That said, it has got­ten me into trou­ble because, in truth, they are good but some­times half-baked ideas. In my enthu­si­asm I pitch these ideas to pub­lish­ers, who grab hold. Then I have to give good lit­er­ary life to those ill-formed notions. So far, so good.

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Reviews

“Though dark­er than its pre­de­ces­sor, this sequel is equal­ly fine. The plot­ting is alto­geth­er laud­able, the set­ting beau­ti­ful­ly real­ized, and the char­ac­ters high­ly empa­thet­ic. Espe­cial­ly good is the voice Avi has con­jured for Oliv­er, just antique enough to evoke eigh­teenth cen­tu­ry dic­tion and syn­tax. One thing is cer­tain: it may be the end of the world but there is no end to the plea­sure Avi’s lat­est evokes.” (Book­list, Michael Cart, starred review)

“Told in appro­pri­ate­ly 18th-cen­tu­ry dic­tion, Oliv­er’s picaresque is a har­row­ing page-turn­er that takes an unflinch­ing look at what life was like for those liv­ing in servi­tude in the Amer­i­can Colonies. Oliv­er is qui­et­ly hero­ic but also real­is­tic as he endures his fate. African Bara, though seen through white Oliv­er’s eyes, is giv­en trope-defy­ing agency, his intel­li­gence and supe­ri­or knowl­edge of the ter­ri­to­ry and cus­toms putting him in the lead but nev­er at Oliv­er’s ser­vice. Brief back­mat­ter gives his­tor­i­cal con­text to this sequel. Action-packed and inspirational—another stun­ner” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

“Told in Oliv­er’s unfor­get­table voice, the nov­el paints a vivid pic­ture of the hor­ror of the voy­age, the con­vict pas­sen­gers forced to stand stooped over in the tween deck, bolt­ed to the plank­ing by iron chains around their necks. (“It was as if we were being fit­ted into a group cof­fin.”) The cap­tain is Eli­jah Krets, “a spite-tem­pered, hufty-tufty man, well-suit­ed for the ship’s pre­vi­ous satan­ic ser­vice, that of a chat­tel slave ship.”) Oliv­er dreads what awaits; he can read and write but these tal­ents are not val­ued by the Mary­land folk look­ing for free labor. Oliv­er finds him­self in a mis­er­able sit­u­a­tion, on a remote plan­ta­tion with a drunk­en, vicious mas­ter. His only solace is the black slave Bara who, unlike Oliv­er, can­not hope to be freed in sev­en years’ time. Amid the beat­ings, hunger and exhaus­tion of work­ing in the tobac­co fields, Oliv­er clings to the hope of being reunit­ed with his sis­ter Char­i­ty who is some­where in this strange, new world.” (Buf­fa­lo News)

buy the book 
Did you read the prior book?
if you liked this book, try: