Liverpool, 1752. William Kemp has lost a fortune in cotton speculation, and must recoup his losses if his son is to marry the wealthy woman whom he loves. His last resort is a slave ship, one that will take him to the Guinea coast, where he will trade for human cargo, then embark on the infamous Middle Passage. When disease ravages the ship and the African prisoners mutiny, William’s profit-seeking venture falls apart. Slaves and sailors alike will join together to found a utopian community on the coast of Florida—not knowing that the vengeful, younger Kemp is in pursuit. Unsworth’s tour de force is a profound meditation on the sacred hunger—the greed—couched within human nature, animating the slave trade. It is a novel that transcends its setting, illuminating larger truths that resonate to this day.
Barry Unsworth was born in 1930 and grew up in a mining town in northeast England. Descended from a long line of coal miners, he was the first Unsworth to escape the mines. He attended Manchester University and published his first novel, The Partnership, in 1966. He is the author of seventeen books, including The Ruby in Her Navel, longlisted for the Booker Prize; Pascali’s Island and Morality Play, both shortlisted for the Booker; and Sacred Hunger, co-winner of the Booker Prize. He died in 2012 at the age of eighty-one.
Read an Excerpt
The ship he meant was the Liverpool Merchant, Captain Saul Thurso, and he had never seen her, though she carried the seeds Of all his dreams in her hold. (Continues…)
Sacred Hunger 4.5 out of 5based on
0 ratings.
8 reviews.
Anonymous
More than 1 year ago
Debt, slavery, the nature of justice and morality. Screw you Ayn Rand.
Goodreadercarol
More than 1 year ago
I am guilty of starting a book, and if it is slow going after about 100 pages, I put it down and (sometimes) never go back. I almost did that on Sacred Hunger, and am really glad I persevered. The book has great historical details on shipbuilding, life aboard a slave ship, early British society, the history of early Florida and the African slave trade. The characters are flawed, the story is dark, but absolutely wonderful. Great book for a book club. A very powerful book--one of the best I have read.
Packleader3
More than 1 year ago
While I'm 3/4 of the way through this book, I find it most interesting in looking back at the slave trade and the early settling of Florida. The characters are somewhat dark, but they seem to work well with the subject and the reality of those days. Life was harsh and conditions for black slaves were abominable. It breaks your heart as you feel the plight of black slaves and the emotional pain of leaving their entire life and loved ones behind for a life (if they survived) of being less than a dog. If you like history I highly suggest this. While I can't say it's exciting, I have already purchased the next book in the series to see where it goes. It does have a way of taking you in with its characters.
El 22 de noviembre de 1963, tres disparos resonaron en Dallas. Murió el presidente Kennedy,
y el mundo cambió. ¿Qué harías tú si pudieras impedirlo? En esta brillante novela, Stephen King acompaña al lector en un viaje maravilloso al pasado ...
First published in 1972, The Foxfire Book was a surprise bestseller that brought Appalachia's philosophy
of simple living to hundreds of thousands of readers. Whether you wanted to hunt game, bake the old-fashioned way, or learn the art of successful ...
Maud Gonthier yearns for an escape from the cocoon of the bourgeois modesty. The splendid,
caddish David Tyler appears to offer one. In this stylish, deeply knowing novel by the author of Hotel du Lac, Maud's seduction creates a chemistry ...
The Pulitzer-Prize Winning novel for 1996.In this visionary sequel to The Sportswriter, Richard Ford deepens
his portrait of one of the most unforgettable characters in American fiction, and in so doing gives us an indelible portrait of America.Frank Bascombe, in ...
National Bestseller. Soon to be a major motion picture directed by James Schamus.In 1951, the
second year of the Korean War, a studious, law-abiding, and intense youngster from Newark, New Jersey, Marcus Messner, begins his sophomore year on the pastoral, ...
A wickedly satirical and outrageous thriller about globalization and marketing hype, Jennifer Government is the best novel
in the world ever.Funny and clever.... A kind of ad-world version of Dr. Strangelove.... [Barry] unleashes enough wit and surprise to make his story a ...
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Handmaid's TaleImprisoned by walls of their own construction,
here are three people, each in midlife, in midcrisis, forced to make choices--after the rules have changed. Elizabeth, with her controlled sensuality, her suppressed rage, is ...
Scientist Charles Neumann loses a leg in an industrial accident. It's not a tragedy. It's
an opportunity. Charlie always thought his body could be better. He begins to explore a few ideas. To build parts. Better parts.Prosthetist Lola Shanks loves ...
