"What if . . .

. . . the Trans-Atlantic slave trade was reversed?" This provocative idea is the core of the alternate history presented in Blonde Roots by Bernardine Evaristo. Kidnapped as a child from her impoverished cabbage farm in Europa, Doris is bought, sold, and enslaved in prosperous Africa before eventually being banished to the plantations of the New World. Stripped of her family and identity, Doris is given a slave name, Omorenomwara, and forced to conform to the Aphrikan culture. Told as a personal narrative alternating between Doris and her owner, Captain Katamba, readers get an insight into the mores and attitudes fueling the slave trade, as well as the inner-conflict felt by those involved. By flipping the roles, Evaristo manages to describe a very dark and bleak chapter in human history in a brand new light. HM