The Slave-Owner’s Dilemma by Simon Holder is compelling in its scope and subject and I consider that the jacket most certainly reflects the course the novel takes. But let’s look in more detail at Holder’s creation, which is written in a style which suggests its times and environs and in which he reveals, imagines and reflects the issues of those times.
In 1778 Walton Grimley inherits his father’s Jamaican sugar plantation at aged just 4. Even at such a young age he realises that slavery is wrong. But what can he do about it?
Is it enough to realise that he must improve his own slaves’ lives? What about the evil of the whole of the slave trade – how can that be altered? Finally he feels change must come from the top, which means following Wilberforce, the anti-slavery campaigner. To this end, Walton leaves Jamaica, travels to England, and becomes an MP, building, of course, a manor suitable to his position in Derbyshire. What does a manor need? A Housekeeper. A Mrs Burrows agrees. A Butler, and who better than Tobias, his Jamaican man servant. Goodness, the entry of this young man into Mulberry Hall most certainly causes a quickening heart for one particular female servant. The insertion of Tobias into the English gentry also serves, for Walton, as evidence to his peers of his belief in, if you like, his respect for all races.
In view of Tobias’s arrival, it seems sensible to bring Alice, Tobias’s lass, over to keep Tobias company. Well, things don’t play out as expected, not below, or above stairs and there are surprising secret ‘alliances’ that are, unsurprisingly, under constant pressure.
In the face of these pressures, and the mores of the time, Sir Walton fits into the establishment by choosing and English wife in order to produce a suitable heir. At the wedding, Alice is bridesmaid, which discomforts the society guests. but it is what Sir Walton wishes – in part to make evident his belief in equality. The attitude at the wedding service thaws with the appearance of Tobias, as it is assumed that Alice and he are connected as servants. Ah, but connected to whom? That is the question.Compromises, compromises.
Children are born, and grow into adults. The complexities continue. Will it all work out? Oh come on, I won’t tell, but remember… There are women at work… Feelings, suspicions, skullduggery, revenge, jealousy and all the time the abolition of slavery draws nearer… So what then happens to Sir Walton’s wealth which supports everyone? Read it. You really must read this book. Gift it too, with Easter on the horizon. Time to read during hols, remember.