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Book Reviewed by:Mosley deftly weaves historical and speculative fiction into a powerful narrative about the nature of freedom.
A gripping Young Adult fiction debut by bestselling author
Walter Mosley.
Walter Mosley is one of the best known writers in America.
In his first book for young adults, Mosley deftly weaves historical and
speculative fiction into a powerful narrative about the nature of freedom.
47 is a young slave boy living under the watchful eye of a brutal slave
master. His life seems doomed until he meets a mysterious run-away slave,
Tall John. Then 47 finds himself swept up in a struggle for his own
liberation.
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(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
According to Mosley, "Tall John himself is a reflection of an old slave myth about a spirit named High John the Conqueror. High John, the myth goes, came from Africa to confound the white masters and to ultimately free the slaves."
Zora Neale Hurston writes of High John de Conquer (pronounced conker) in The Sanctified Church, a collection of essays on Afro-American folklore, legend and myth with a particular focus on the spiritual character of the Southern Black Christian Church. She depicts him as a trickster/shaman figure (similar to Anansi and Br'er Rabbit) who is said to have been an African prince sold into slavery in the Americas, but whose spirit was never broken.
Another traditional story is told byVirginia Hamilton, in ...
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