A 1901 novel for adults about a young woman who married a Marchioness and the melodrama that follows. It features a Preface by Isabel Raphael and Afterword by Gretchen Gerzina.

'The classic book on Black people in Georgian London' DAVID OLUSOGA 'Deeply researched, lucidly written and utterly fascinating . . . If you ever thought Black British history started with Windrush, read this book' GREG JENNER Georgian England had a large and distinctive Black community. There were special churches, Black-only balls, many became famous and respected. But all, whether prosperous citizens or newly freed slaves, lived under the constant threat of kidnap and sale to plantations. Black England tells their stories, bringing their triumphs and tortures to vivid life, revealing a dramatic forgotten chapter of our shared past. 'Black England taught me more history than I ever learned at school. Gretchen Gerzina tells it as it was, so we know how it is . . . a book that will be relevant for ever' BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH

'This book brings history alive' BERNADINE EVARISTO

WITH A FOREWORD FROM ZADIE SMITH

'Black England is a book that will be relevant for ever' BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH

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The idea that Britain became a mixed-race country after 1945 is a common mistake. Georgian England had a large and distinctive Black community. Whether prosperous citizens or newly freed slaves, they all ran the risk of kidnap and sale to plantations. Black England tells their dramatic, often moving stories.

In the eighteenth century, Black people could be found in clubs and pubs, there were special churches, Black-only balls and organisations for helping Black people who were out of work or in trouble. Many were famous and respected: most notably Francis Barber, Doctor Johnson's beloved manservant; Ignatius Sancho, a correspondent of Laurence Sterne; Francis Williams, a Cambridge scholar, and Olaudah Equiano whose Interesting Narrative went into multiple editions. But far more were ill-paid and ill-treated servants or beggars, despite having served Britain in war and on the seas. For alongside the free world there was slavery, from which many of these Black Britons had escaped.

The triumphs and tortures of Black England, the Ambivalent relations between the races, sometimes tragic, sometimes heart-warming, are brought to life in this wonderfully readable history. Black England explores a fascinating chapter of our shared past, a chapter that has been ignored too long.