Why a Booktrail?
1934: A woman in search of the truth, the man she falls in love with, and the devastation of the Second World War.
The Girl from the Sugar Plantation
What you need to know before your trail
Mary Grace is a woman in search of the truth. She wants to know who her parents really are. She’s the mixed race daughter of two plantation owners and the true circumstances of her birth have been kept a closely guarded secret…
She decides to forge her own path in the world and goes to live with Aunt Winnie. There she finds herself falling for Jock Campbell, a planter with revolutionary ideas. Ideas which could prove to be very dangerous indeed with the onset of WW2.
Mary Grace and Jock will be faced with the hardest decision of all – to fight for freedom or to follow their hearts…
Travel Guide
Sharon Maas’ guide to Guyana:
British Guiana became independent Guyana in 1966, and that’s when Jock Campbell finally left the country for good. Back in Scotland, he was playing golf with his good friend Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond Books.
when the later told him that he had cancer and wasn’t expecting to love a year. Jock loved literature and he created the company Bookers which would buy the writes to Fleming’s books and later on, those of Agatha Christie and others. Bookers later joined forces with Jonathan Cape, another publisher to form a literary prize in the UK – and so the Booker Prize was born. The first prize was awarded two years after Jock Booker resigned from the Booker Chairmanship.
Therefore, the Booker name, which was linked to slavery, exploitation and social reform, not to mention entrepreneurship, ended up by making literature a strong focus and its name finally took on a great meaning thanks to Jock.
Booktrailer Review
Susan:
I’ve loved the other books in this series and this one just rounded things off very nicely indeed. Sharon’s writing is effortless and lyrical and the story floats along like a melody. That’s not to say that this is in any way whimsical or light – far from it – but the writing transports you and the story flows with ease despite some of the events in the book turning dark and ugly with the onset of war. The themes of racism, women’s rights and cultural differences are woven into a plot of love, trust, society’s expectations and what it must have meant to go against not just the grain but the whole bag of corn.
I felt so involved with the story from the start and Mary Grace seemed so real and vulnerable. I felt as if I wanted to try and help her, protect her and wanted to know Jock’s intentions from the start! There was so much against them and her, so many people against her and all she wanted to do is to find her own place in the world. That would be hard now, let alone in a country so divided and a world on the edge of war. This novel again read like a film, the setting is stunningly vivid and the colours build up to form quite a picture of history and culture. The plot is nicely done, steady and builds to a climax of twists and secrets. The girl from the sugar plantation is a fascinating read.
And without giving too much away – Jock Campbell is one of the most fascinating characters I have read about in a long while. The story behind the name and the legacy….that’s all I’m going to say as to discover this for yourself is more than a treat worth savouring for yourself. Fascinating!!
Where Next?
