I definitely felt immersed in the Georgian era, and the descriptions were so vivid and came alive off the page.
Plot didnt have me completely gripped, but I could see what the author was trying to achieve.

A truly moving, mesmerising and dramatic tale.

In 1729, somewhere in the mid-Atlantic, a baby is born aboard a slave ship and against all odd, he survives. Forward to 1746 and the same boy has escaped slavery and is trying to survive in Georgian London. Constantly on the run from slave catchers and worse, he is seeking one man who might help him - the kindly Duke of Montagu who took him in and taught him to write.

What follows is possibly the most moving and achingly beautiful story I have read in a long time.

Sancho was a real person; he lived and died over two hundred years ago. Written in the form of a memoir, "The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho" takes the reader through a life full of danger, disappointment, hardship and hope, ambition and success. We learn how he was taken in and cared for by three sisters, rose to become a writer, composer and much more. He also became the first Black person to vote in Britain and lead the fight to end slavery.

In his author's note, Mr Joseph says " I have taken a real person and performed an act of fiction on him....seeking first to entertain, with a by-product of enlightenment about the black presence in Britain". And he does just that - taking what could have been a dry retelling of a lesser-known figure and placing him in a world of hate, corruption, injustice and poverty, which moves, educates and inspires the reader.

This is clearly a subject very close the Paterson Joseph's' heart, and indeed, he says that the book is the result of a twenty-year interest in not just the man, but his place in history. He is well-known for bringing stories to life on stage and screen, but this book proves he can do just as good a job on paper. He says "the book is an attempt to add to the growing canon of Black Historical Fiction", and it is. It's also a simple tale of the life of one man and his live and loves.

I was delighted to receive a Netgalley ARC for review, but look forward to picking up a real copy when it's published. This book will live with me for a long time to come. Thoroughly recommended.

This is a story written in beautiful language and expressing the feelings of a slave in England, feelings of love and anger especially.
The Greenwich coven, as he calls the sisters, know of his visits to the duke, and suspect that he is learning to read there. When he is imprisoned in the cellar, by those same sisters, and the slave trader comes to collect him. I will not reveal more of the plot for fear of spoiling it, but this diary is well worth a read, and is recommended.