Title: A Fisher of Slaves: 2nd Edition
Author: Dick Parsons
Publisher: AuthorHouseUK
ISBN: 9981504989985
Pages: 336
Genre: Fiction/General
Pacific Book Review
“A Fisher of Slaves” written by author Dick Parsons is a general fiction novel introducing readers to the concepts of the slave trade via a slave ship during the late 1700s, in Africa, England, America, and other slave routes.
Nathaniel Lugger has a passion for the sea and wishes to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a sailor. He persuades his mother to allow him to pursue a career as such, even though she was hesitant to do so given his father was killed in 1779 in the Battle of Quiberon Bay, before he was born. Reluctantly after some searching, Mrs. Lugger find’s Nathaniel a boat Capitan, Capitan James Youle of the Mary Anne, who will allow him to serve as an apprentice aboard his ship. Mrs. Lugger soon realizes that due to her own naïve and foolish misunderstanding her fears are coming true as she allowed her own son to be apprentice on a slave ship, a trade that she intensely despises and fears will corrupt her son’s life with the horrors he might experience during his journey on this slave ship, the Mary Anne.
Author Dick Parsons diligently writes a plot outlining well detailed descriptions of scenery, objects, and characters within each chapter, giving a reader a very visual aspect to their reading experience. Dick Parsons, being a retired Navy officer, includes bits and pieces of his own experience in the ship and sailing trade to incorporate within his fictional novel, making each chapter appear as if it is based on true events, and actual people. For example, one of the main characters has a journal in which a log of daily events, and drawings of scenery, ships, and people are effectively described, making the fictional log book appear as though it was taken from the hands of an actual ship apprentice of that time period. Incorporating a love scenario with a few characters, the idea of the slave trade and what all that entailed, from the workers to the actual slaves, gives the book the opportunity to appeal to more than just one group of readers; such as the romance genre readers, historical fiction readers, and those readers who enjoy books about boats, sailing, and the shipping trade.
Being an avid reader of historical and historical fiction genre novels, I thoroughly enjoyed each aspect of Dick Parsons book “A Fisher of Slaves” from the plot, to the characters, to the steady flow of the words, making each page a comfortable read.
