Mr Atkinson's Rum Contract

The Story of a Tangled Inheritance

Mr Atkinson's Rum Contract
Richard Atkinson
Our Price:
NZ$ 27.99
Paperback
h198 x 129mm - 512pg
8 Jul 2021 UK
International import eta 7-19 days
9780007509232
Out Of Stock
Currently no stock in-store, stock is sourced to your order
' Rarely has family history been so vivid' JENNY UGLOW ' An extraordinarily original work' AMANDA FOREMAN What would you do if you found out that your ancestors were slave owners? Richard Atkinson was in his late thirties, and approaching a milestone he had long dreaded - the age at which his father died - when one day he came across a box of old family letters gathering dust on top of a cupboard. This discovery set him on an all-consuming, highly emotional journey, ultimately taking him from the weather-beaten house of his Cumbrian ancestors to the abandoned ruins of their sugar estates in Jamaica. Richard' s searches led him to one forebear in particular, an earlier Richard Atkinson, a West India merchant who had shipped all the British army' s supplies during the American War of Independence, and amassed staggering wealth and connections along the way. ' Rum' Atkinson died young, at the height of his powers, leaving a vast inheritance to his many nephews and nieces, as well as the society beauty who had refused his proposal of marriage; forty years of litigation followed as his heirs wrangled over his legacy. Drawing on his family' s personal correspondence, Richard writes with rare candour about his worldly ancestors and their involvement in the slave trade - for, like many well-to-do Georgian families, the Atkinsons' wealth was acquired at a terrible cost, through the lives of enslaved Africans. This vivid tale of a single family, their lives and loves, set against a panoramic backdrop of war, politics and slavery, offers a uniquely intimate insight into one of the most disturbing chapters in Britain' s colonial past.
' Fascinating . . . Not only a minute examination of a family' s rise and fall, but a ringside view of the Caribbean slave trade and an impeccable guide to the legal and financial world of the Enlightenment . . . This is an epic tale, but it is moreover an epic piece of research . . . My guess is that many readers will now find themselves inspired to unlock their own time capsules and slip into another century' Guardian' Remarkable . . . Family history can become an obsession and often a bore. But in this case it has produced gold. Love, adventure, skulduggery, moral outrage - what a story' Spectator' His evidence-sifting tenacity is impressive and the way he combines thumbnail nuggets with grand narratives shows how history benefits from being written from the ground up' Daily Telegraph' Enthralling . . . Full of drama, surprises, twists and turns. There are wars, sudden bankruptcies, doomed love affairs, tragic early deaths and bitter family feuds, all involving a cast of Atkinsons brilliantly brought to life' Literary Review' An engaging tour de force of genealogical research. . . This fascinating personal family story is also the story of a colonial English past of which none of us should be proud, but of which all of us should be aware' Daily Mail' For (Atkinson) , it' s not enough just to find the names of distant ancestors and place them properly on a chart. He wants to know them. He brings them to life with refreshing simplicity . . . A masterpiece' The Times' Rarely has family history been so vivid, following the generations and bravely confronting harsh facts from a colonial past' Jenny Uglow, author of The Lunar Men' A wonderful, warm book, which manages to give a new, intimate twist to the epic story of sugar and slavery' Andrea Stuart, author of Sugar in the Blood
Richard Atkinson is a publisher who has been behind some of the most successful cookbooks of recent years. He lives in London but has a deep-rooted affection for the north of England, the land of his ancestors.
Status: Active
ISBN-13: 9780007509232
Published: 8 Jul 2021
Published In: United Kingdom
Imprint: Fourth Estate
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Format: Paperback
Height: 198mm
Width: 129mm
Pages: 512

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