This was a very descriptive book that brought to life Regency England. Much research had gone into the book and learning about Sancho's life was heartbreaking but I did find the jumping around quite confusing at times. Nevertheless, this is an important story that more people should be aware of.

An interesting take on a fictional tale of a real life person thrust into society who struggled to find his place in the world.
I thought the descriptions of Regency England and London were brilliantly described and evoked a time of such contrasts. I found the jumping around between timelines rather jarring but really enjoyed the correspondence between Anne and Sancho

I found this a really painful read, because the central character, Anchor, must contort himself so much in order to survive. I don't enjoy reading about a Black Man having to first be a pet, a plaything and an entertainment. I also struggle with Sancho's desire to a servant to the same ruling classes that makes its money from slavery. A strange book, therefore.

The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho was a real eye opener of a novel. I listened to the audiobook, read so well by the author, Paterson Joseph.

This is the true story of Charles Ignatius Sancho, fictionalised somewhat, but only so that the modern day reader can begin to grasp what living in London as a black ex-slave in the mid-1700’s would have been like. And whilst Sancho may have had a more privileged life than most, it wasn’t his own life to live until he ran away from his first owners - sisters who used him as their entertainment.

Charles has a fear of the slave catcher, and rightly so, as they could kidnap any black person and sell them into slavery - whether they had escaped or been freed. These men were a constant threat.

Charles though, catches the eye of a duke who helps him to become educated, and he even works for the King for a while. He ends his life as a business owner and the first black person to vote in Britain. All of this from a life begun on a slave ship.

I don’t think it really matters how much of this book was fictionalised - we can never exactly know what went on in his head, but we can have a fair guess - and I like to think that Paterson Joseph has really caught the essence of the real Charles Ignatius Sancho. I liked Charles very much, and the love he shows for his son through the letters included in the novel are so touching.

I’d recommend this book, it’s a great read (or listen - I can definitely vouch for that!).

Wonderfully written, original story with an effective use of epistolary form. The hardships and triumphs of Ignatius stay with you.

The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho reimagines the life of the very real Sancho, a black man who has escaped slavery and yet becomes a writer and composer in 18th century London. Joseph has worked tirelessly to bring the life of Sancho to the wider public and this book brilliantly does that, filling in the blanks in an amusing, poignantly authentic way. For people who like their historical novels based on real people, I highly recommend this book.

Stonkingly good story of the real life figure Sancho, created first as a one-person play and now in book form by Paterson Joseph, better known for his on-screen roles. More people should know Sancho's story and this is a great way to find out more about him!

Unfortunately despite numerous attempts to connect with this book I have had to admit defeat and mark as dnf.

It’s always interesting to read a book about a real person, as, despite what ever may be known about them, there is still a lot we don’t know, and that needs to be imagined by the author. However, I found this book difficult to get into, it had a slow start and I lost interest, maybe its just not for me.

Found this really hard to get into, I wanted to love it because of the context and story but found the writing style really inaccessible and difficult to like any of the characters.

A look at slavery in England. Charles Ignatius Sancho was born on a slave ship in 1729 and as an orphan could easily have disappeared into the devastation of West Indian slavery. However he ended up being bought to England as a young child, where he was “given” to three sisters as a servant. This unpromising beginning developed into a story of a free man who was able to use his talents to have many roles in later life – a composer, actor, voter, valet, shopkeeper. The author in fictionalising his life points out his successes but also describes his domestic life. In this version he is allowed to be as foolish and love smitten as any young man, and to mature into somebody with a conscience and an urge to improve the lives of his compatriots.
I was attracted to this book initially by its author, who I had known through his acting roles. I think he is very successful at catching the voice of Sancho. He does have to imagine Sancho’s inner voice and interactions with others which have not been captured in Sancho’s own letters. He also manages to keep the 18th century inflexion of the language while still keeping it readable for the modern reader.

Absolutely loved this book. A fascinating slice of history - one I shamefully never knew. Written with wit and charm, a total delight

I love Paterson Joseph’s acting, I think he is accomplished and quite brilliant, he is as accomplished an author and his ability to portray a character is mirrored by his ability to draw a character on a page. What a wonderful book, it was fascinating, it is very well researched and very well written and I was thoroughly engaged with it from start to finish (literally could not put it down).

Charles Ignatius Sancho was not someone I had heard of before reading this book, and as a white woman this book made me stop and think about my privilege and how difficult it was, and indeed, sill is for people of colour.

A very engaging read about a very interesting man, thoroughly researched and very well written.

With television and film roles ranging from the smoothly ruthless boss, Alan Johnson, in Channel 4’s Peep Show to the Marquis de Carabas in Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, and the submarine commander in the recent BBC thriller, Vigil, Paterson Joseph is a familiar face – and voice – to UK audiences. Growing up in 1970s London, the child of Windrush generation parents, he told The Bookseller magazine in an interview earlier this year: “We always presumed that we were the first generation of Black people to be born here”. Then he discovered Charles Ignatius Sancho (referenced in Black England: Life Before Emancipation, by American academic Gretchen Gerzina) and was determined to tell his story.
Initially, Joseph wrote and performed a stage play, Sancho: An Act of Remembrance – premiered in 2010 at the National Theatre Studio, toured in the United States and staged again in London in 2018. Plans for a television series were abandoned when Joseph realised just how much of the story he would have to leave out – and decided that a novel was the only way to do justice to the first Black man to vote in a British general election, in 1780. Lockdown in 2020 provided the opportunity, and The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho is the result.
Based partly on Sancho’s letters, this is an exhilarating account of a life far stranger than any fiction. Born on a slave ship bound for New Granada – a Spanish viceroyalty in northern South America – and almost immediately orphaned, Sancho is eventually sent to England and, aged three, goes to live in Greenwich with his master’s witch-like triumvirate of maiden aunts. (It is they who name him Sancho, after Don Quixote’s tubby servant, Sancho Panza).
His early years pitched somewhere between a dream and a nightmare, Sancho attempts to escape the aunts on several occasions. More than once, he runs foul of vicious slave-catcher Jonathan Sill, but is rescued – again, more than once – by John, 2nd Duke of Montagu, who takes the little boy under his wing and begins to educate him, in secret. The aunts would not approve of their little “Black pet” getting any notions of grandeur.
Adventures abound – some delightful, others quite horrifying – as Sancho grows to adulthood and finds a place in Georgian society, becoming known as an artist and performer in his own right, as well as a friend and confidant of personalities as prominent as the great actor-manager David Garrick, Anglo-Irish novelist Laurence Sterne and even Dr Samuel Johnson. He met King George II, and his portrait – now in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada – was painted by Thomas Gainsborough.
His story is told mainly through a series of diary entries, with interludes including a series of tender and sensual love-letters between Sancho and his beloved wife, Anne, and passages addressed to the couple’s little son, Billy.
In this truly outstanding debut, Joseph has woven fact and imagination into a magical narrative, bringing a fresh perspective to high and low life in Georgian London and celebrating a great Black Briton.

We needed this story! It was so wonderful to hear about this man's life at last, and it was clearly a labour of love for Paterson Joseph after putting on his one-man show based on Sancho's life. Rich in detail and incredibly illuminating, this one is not to be missed! Thank you for the ARC!

What a book and what a figure - full of personality, perseverance, character! The overcoming of adversity was hugely emotional. A rich book of detail and images. I couldn’t put it down. I loved it! Left me thinking for a long time after finishing, I didn’t want it to end!

The books had a promising potential from what I discerned from the blurb. However, once started reading, realised some of the chapters were too large and took you nowhere..it felt like never ending so had to DNF it.

We ended up including this one in the Mr B's Christmas Catalogue in 2022. We'll be looking forward to using the paperback for subscriptions.

The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho is a fictional work about Charles Ignatius Sancho (1729-1780). He was an African man, born on a slave ship mid-Atlantic an orphaned before the ship arrived in the Caribbean. At age three he was taken to England and given to three sisters("the coven") for whom he was forced to work as a slave. He later became a musician, actor, writer, abolitionist, and grocer in spite of the obstacles that stood in his way. He is reputed to be the first person of African descent to vote in a British election, and for his letters, which provide some insight into the life of enslaved black people in 18th-century England. The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho is a novel is a fictionalised version of his life and inner thoughts.

The novel is presented in form of his diary entries, and letters to his son and to his future wife-to-be. Through the stories, we learn about his life living with the three ladies in Greenwich, his desire to learn and read, his relationships and escapades with the landed gentry and colourful characters that he rubbed shoulders with including Dr Samuel Johnson, William Hogarth, David Garrick, and artist Thomas Gainsborough who later went on to paint his only known portrait.

Through the novel, we learn about his life with the three sisters and the hardships he faced living with them, his fears and struggles to find his identity and place in English society, his relationship with his in-laws and wife Anne Osborne and his hopes and fears for his children.

The novel is light on the gory details of the slave trade and slavery which is a relief. It gives us insight into the life of the young boys who were brought to England and treated as fashion accessories by the landed gentry. We also learn about the condition of the working classes and class disparity in England.

The novel brings to life the untold story of many black people who were living in Georgian England and destroys the myth that the presence of Black people in England only started with the Empire Windrush. Although somewhat slow in parts, it is an enjoyable read due to the prose and humour that pervades throughout.

A first person account, ostensibly written for his young son, and presented in parts as extracts from his diaries and letters, this novel tells the story of the narrator’s life from his early days almost as a pet in the household of three well-to-do spinsters to his eventual right to vote as a free man and shop keeper. Fortunate enough to fall in with a wealthy philanthropist and his family, taught to read and with his musical ability fostered, this is a captivating account of the precarious existence of a child believed to be born on a slave ship and the encounters that shape his life. It paints a vivid portrait of London in that period for both rich and poor and, particularly through the experiences of Sancho’s wife expressed in her letters to him, the horror of slavery in the plantations of the Caribbean. A thoroughly rewarding novel with memorable characters and an engaging narrator which has increased my awareness of a period of history that I did not learn about in school. Hopefully future generations will not have a reason to say that!