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Washington Black: A novel Audiobook
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• TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR: New York Times, Washington Post, TIME, Entertainment Weekly, Slate • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Boston Globe, NPR, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, The Economist, Bustle • WINNER OF THE SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE • FINALIST FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE, THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE, THE ROGERS WRITERS' TRUST PRIZE "Enthralling" --Boston Globe "Extraordinary" --Seattle Times "A rip-roaring tale" --Washington Post A dazzling adventure story about a boy who rises from the ashes of slavery to become a free man of the world. George Washington Black, or "Wash," an eleven-year-old field slave on a Barbados sugar plantation, is terrified to be chosen by his master's brother as his manservant. To his surprise, the eccentric Christopher Wilde turns out to be a naturalist, explorer, inventor, and abolitionist. Soon Wash is initiated into a world where a flying machine can carry a man across the sky, where even a boy born in chains may embrace a life of dignity and meaning--and where two people, separated by an impossible divide, can begin to see each other as human. But when a man is killed and a bounty is placed on Wash's head, Christopher and Wash must abandon everything. What follows is their flight along the eastern coast of America, and, finally, to a remote outpost in the Arctic. What brings Christopher and Wash together will tear them apart, propelling Wash even further across the globe in search of his true self. From the blistering cane fields of the Caribbean to the frozen Far North, from the earliest aquariums of London to the eerie deserts of Morocco, Washington Black tells a story of self-invention and betrayal, of love and redemption, of a world destroyed and made whole again, and asks the question, What is true freedom?
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“Narrator Dion Graham wrings every heartfelt emotion from the story. Edugyan’s work embodies the fear and brutality of 1800s slavery, using beautifully turned phrases and clear-eyed observations—which Graham takes to another level—to give voice to the horror and high adventure of Washington Black’s life…Graham lets the characters mature in his delivery as Washington travels from the steamy sugar cane fields of Barbados to the arctic plains of Canada. Listeners will be rooting for this most unlikely of heroes. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
— AudioFile
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“A lush, exhilarating travelogue reminiscent of Jules Verne.”
— New Yorker -
“Black’s presence in these pages is fierce and unsettling. His urge to live all he can is matched by his eloquence.”
— New York Times Book Review -
“Terrifically exciting.”
— Washington Post -
“It was Dion Graham’s performance that really elevated this to a new echelon and earned it this win. In Part One, during which Wash is a young boy, Graham brings a vulnerability that in turns feels fragile, naïve, and brave. He matures Wash’s voice as the years proceed, but fascinatingly his grown voice—the one that he uses to look back and reflect from his present—contains shades of accents from everywhere Wash has traveled…as well as all the sorrow, regret, fearlessness, and determination he carried with him for the journey.”
— Audible.com -
“As harrowing a portrayal of slavery as Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad, but also a globe-trotting, page-turning adventure story. A historical epic with much to say about the present-day world.”
— Guardian (London)
Awards
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A #1 Amazon.com bestseller in African American Historical Fiction
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Shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker Prize
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Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
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Shortlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction
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Winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize
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Shortlisted for the 2019 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award
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A New York Times Book Review Top 10 Book of the Year
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An AudioFile Best Audiobook of the Year in Fiction
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An Audible.com Best of the Year for Solo Male Performance
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A Booklist Top 10 Pick of Historical Fiction on Audio
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About Esi Edugyan
Esi Edugyan is the author of several books, including Washington Black, longlisted for the ScotiaBank Giller Prize and the Man Booker Prize. Half Blood Blues won the Scotiabank Giller Prize and was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize, the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Prize and the Orange Prize. Her debut novel, The Second Life of Samuel Tyne, was nominated for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and was chosen by the New York Public Library as one of 2004’s Books to Remember. She has a masters degree in writing from Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars and has held fellowships in the United States, Scotland, Iceland, Germany, Hungary, Finland, Spain, and Belgium. She has taught creative writing at both Johns Hopkins University and the University of Victoria and has sat on many international panels.
About Dion Graham
Dion Graham is an award-winning narrator named a “Golden Voice” by AudioFile magazine. He has been a recipient of the prestigious Audie Award numerous times, as well as Earphones Awards, the Publishers Weekly Listen Up Awards, IBPA Ben Franklin Awards, and the ALA Odyssey Award. He was nominated in 2015 for a Voice Arts Award for Outstanding Narration. He is also a critically acclaimed actor who has performed on Broadway, off Broadway, internationally, in films, and in several hit television series. He is a graduate of Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts, with an MFA degree in acting.