Our Rating:
Library Formats:
Book, eAudiobook
Age Group:
Young Adults +
Genre:
Historical Fiction
Cane Warriors is a powerful and fast paced book which explores the true story of slavery and the slave uprising in Jamaica in the 1760s. If you don’t know the historical context, this is a gripping story that will encourage you to find out more about the subject.
The story is told from the perspective of Moa, a 14 year old boy who is enslaved on a sugar cane plantation. Alex Wheatle shows what life was like for Moa and the book is written from his perspective, taking us on his difficult journey.
Listening to the eAudiobook was quite a powerful way of exploring this story, particularly as the dialect adds to the storytelling. It took a little while to get used to the style, but I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning about this period of time but in a way that gives a real voice to the slaves involved in Tacky’s Rebellion. It’s a relatively short but engaging story!
To find out more about why Alex Wheatle wrote Cane Warriors and why it was such an important story for him to write, you can read our interview with him, based on a recording of an event at Bath Central Library October, 2023.