Kemosha of the Caribbean

Name: William Joseph
Price range: $

by Alex Wheatle

Interest age: 14 to 16
Reading age: 14+

Published by Andersen, 2022

Adventure
Around the world
Historical

About this book

14 year-old Kemosha Black is born into slavery in Jamaica in the 1660s, living on a plantation with Marta the cook and her beloved little brother Gregory. When she’s 14, she's sold to the horrendous Mr Powell who plans in turn to make money selling Kemosha’s body to the rough and horrible men around the port. But she escapes with the help of an amazing barrel-maker named Ravenhide, a Black free man who teaches her how to swordfight. So begin her pirate adventures on board the ship The Satisfaction with Captain Morgan - and her quest to make enough money to buy the freedom of Marta and Gregory.

Alex Wheatle is a writer with a great ear for dialogue and this is a thrilling, brilliantly written tale of pirates in the Caribbean. But this is also a harsh world full of evil, pitiless drunks, murder, violence, cruelty and lots references to the exploitation of women including rape and prostitution as well as Kemosha’s own sexual relations with her new girlfriend Isabella - although there are no graphic sexual descriptions in the book. There are no modern swear words. The teenagers in the book drink spiced wine.

A thrilling and exciting read, but the violence and exploitation mean it is not a book for sensitive or younger readers.

About the author

Born in 1963 to Jamaican parents, Wheatle grew up in Brixton, South London. At 16 he was a founder member of the Crucial Rocker sound system; his DJ name was Yardman Irie. He wrote lyrics about everyday Brixton life. By 1980 Wheatle was living in a social services hostel in Brixton, South London, and he participated in the 1981 Brixton riots and aftermath. While serving his resulting sentence he read authors such as Chester Himes, Richard Wright, C. L. R. James and John Steinbeck. He claims that a Rastafarian was his cellmate, and he was the one who encouraged Wheatle to start reading books and care about his education.

He received the London Arts Board New Writers Award in 1999 for his debut novel Brixton Rock, which was later adapted for the stage and performed at the Young Vic in July 2010. Wheatle turned to writing for teenagers in 2015 with Liccle Bit the first of his South Crongton series of books.

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