Sydney and Fanny

Rosamond Andrews Nathalie

Description

Sydney Jordan and Fanny Edwards are two emancipated slaves who continue to work on the white man's sugar plantation in Tobago.Sydney falls in love with Fanny, the maid in the Great House and they get married.Sydney soon discovers that Fanny is pregnant and questions whether he is the father.Fanny eventually gives birth to a mixed race daughter whom she names Petra.Fanny insists on keeping her secret and Sydney is devastated.Petra's problems, as she grows up, are more than Sydney and Fanny can bear.This is a thrilling, nerve-racking and thought-provoking story.

Informations

• Publié par: eBookPartnership.com
• Date de parution: 08 septembre 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783015214
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

S YDNEY AND F ANNY
THE PRICE OF FREEDOM
2014 by Nathalie Rosamond Andrews Queen s Drive, St. Vincent and The Grenadines
Nathalie Rosamond Andrews has asserted her rights in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
First published and printed in 2008 in St. Vincent and The Grenadines First published in eBook format in 2014
eBook ISBN: 978-1-78301-521-4 (Printed edition: 978-976-8204-26-4)
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
All names, characters, places, organisations, businesses and events are either the product of the author s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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S YDNEY AND F ANNY
THE PRICE OF FREEDOM
Nathalie Rosamond Andrews
To My Parents
Jack and Jane Mc Kenzie
Contents
About the Author
Book Review
Book Review
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty One
Chapter Twenty Two
Chapter Twenty Three
Chapter Twenty Four
Chapter Twenty Five
Bibliography
About the Author

Nathalie Rosamond Andrews was born, and grew up in Lambeau Village in the twin Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
She is a past student of Bishop s High School, Tobago, where she taught as an undergraduate. Nathalie married Vincentian Roy Andrews, and travelled to England when she worked as an Accounts Clerk for the London County Council.
Many years later, she graduated from Newland Park College of Education, Buckinghamshire, as a qualified teacher.
As a drama student at Reading University, England, she researched and wrote a thesis on The Development of West Indian Theatre, gaining a diploma and becoming an Associate of the Drama Board (Education).
Her professional career includes an Advisory Teacher in the English Department, Berkshire County Council. She has run several workshops for primary and secondary school teachers to encourage and support the use of literature written by black writers.
She has worked tirelessly in the Berkshire Community promoting Caribbean Drama in an effort to help the local community to understand West Indian culture. Nathalie is the author of two booklets entitled Parental Involvement in the Classroom, and Folk Talk.
Since returning to St. Vincent with her husband Roy, they have settled in Queen s Drive and she has written and produced eight One Act Plays; The Power of Prayer, The Prophetess, Leroy s Dilemma, Christmas on Coconut Hill, Rebecca s Discontent, The Wedding Anniversary, Nadia s Letter, The Couple from Nazareth (A Nativity Play) and in 2004, a novel - LEROY.
She has a daughter and son who live in England.
Book Review
Set in Tobago and in Saint Vincent in the 19th century, this story describes the life of Sydney and Fanny, two emancipated slaves who paid the price of freedom to truly love one other in a transitory existence.
Nathalie Rosamond Andrews writes with apparent simplicity, exploring sensitively through their Jives, the tragic effects of slavery - physical and mental abuse, dehumanization, the loss of innocence and self-esteem, superstition whilst at the same time accentuating the strength of the indomitable human spirit. Love, friendship, cooperation, selflessness and forgiveness are but a few of the positive qualities demonstrated by the two main characters and culminating in the heart of Petra, Fanny s mulatto daughter.
I recommend strongly this West Indian novel which makes compulsive and easy reading. It has warmth and compassion born of pain and suffering.
Judith S. Jones-Morgan
15th January 2008
Book Review
Nathalie Rosamond Andrews, in the above-mentioned novel, takes us down memory lane to nineteenth century Caribbean life. It is a return to the African slave trade, the middle passage, plantation slavery and the life of freed slaves through the experiences of the central characters - Sydney Jordan and his wife Fanny, nee Edwards.
The novel offers a poignant contrast to present day Caribbean lifestyles, as we reflect on the lives of our ancestors. We examine fabrics and dress styles, food preparation and diet, housing stock and living standards, agricultural and other economic activities, social and cultural structures and practices and educational development. It is indeed a reflection of From Whence We Came, especially to the descendants of Africans.
We are also given brief glimpses of life in Africa as Sydney often reflects on his early life in Sierra Leone, especially his mother s cooking. The broken dreams of a promising relationship between Fanny and Sydney, early in their marriage are a grim reminder of the toll of slavery on the lives of the slaves, and even the emancipated slaves. Fanny dreamt of having a large family; Sydney dreamt of being a successful husband and father. They were given a taste of freedom but Massa still ruled the day. It was for them a bitter price to pay.
On the positive side, the novel helps to trace the development of modern Caribbean society amidst the challenges and struggles of our communities, our nations and our region, throughout the nineteenth century.
Recommended reading for all ages.
F. Irwin Jack
Chapter One
Run boy, run, shouted a voice from the topmost branch of an old Starch Mango tree. Seconds later came another shout, more distinct than the first, from an exceptionally tall coconut tree which leaned dangerously over a fast running river. They re going to catch you boy.
Ten year old Sydney Jordan knew that he was in serious trouble on that Sunday morning in May 1805. He was being chased by two strange men whom he was told captured and sold young black men to rich Europeans to work as slaves on their sugar plantations in the Caribbean.
Sydney was born in Sierra Leone in 1795, on the west coast of Africa. He spent the first ten years of his life living with his mother in a wattle and daub house just outside Freetown. He was the last of four boys whose father had disappeared mysteriously, soon after Sydney was born. All he knew of his father was what his mother had told him. He spent most of his spare time searching for his lost father.
Sydney was dark brown in complexion, stockily built and looked more like a fifteen year old than a boy of ten years. He walked around with a nervous grin which exposed a set of strong, milk white teeth growing out of blue-black gums.
The footsteps which followed Sydney seemed to be getting closer, in spite of the fact that he tried to run faster. Mid morning was hot and dry and dust was getting into his large brown eyes. Thinking that he was far ahead of the two men, Sydney slowed a bit, and before he realized how tired he was, he collapsed in a large heap near to a clump of guava bushes.
I can t run any more, he said to himself. He tried to crawl under the bushes to hide from his pursuers and shade himself from the hot sun. Suddenly, he felt a weight on himself. It was a man, a fat, white man on top of him, pinning him to the ground.
We ve got you, he said, struggling with Sydney.
Another man who looked older and thinner than the first one couldn t check his speed and leapt over Sydney and his catcher who were still struggling on the ground.
Sydney knew that these were the two men who captured young men and sold them as slaves.
Where is my Papa? Sydney cried.
We re taking you to meet him, replied the older man, as he chained both of Sydney s hands together behind his back and blindfolded him.
What s your name? asked his catcher.
Sydney, and I m only ten, he stuttered.
You strong enough to work. Let s go.
Both men pulled Sydney off the ground and stood him upright.
Go where? asked Sydney.
To the West Indies, they snapped in unison.
Is my Papa there?
You sure are right, they replied, as if they had rehearsed their reply.
Come and join these men. Let s walk, said his catcher, whose voice he came to recognize. Sydney felt when a loop of chain was thrown over his head and it dropped around his neck. They had walked for what Sydney thought was about an hour and he suddenly found himself dragging his bare feet through warm, wet sand. He could smell the freshness of the breeze and hear the breaking of the waves. He knew that he was walking on the seashore. He could hear other men speaking in a strange language. Following the sound of their chains, he realized that they were pulling and tugging each other in an effort to get away and free themselves.
Number off, shouted the older man.
Sydney listened as they shouted from number one to number six who seemed to be next to him. Therefore, he had to be number seven. It seemed that they were chained in batches of seven as there was no one after him in that batch. He heard no noises after him.
Given orders to walk, Sydney and his batch started walking to the water s edge. He could feel the sand get wetter and wetter. The chains around his neck seemed to be heavier than before. The wind was very strong. They waded through the breaking waves, falling and spluttering until they reached a boat which was tossing from side to side in the rough water. The older man helped Sydney to climb on to the boat.