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. I really enjoyed his take on this portion of black history in Georgian London. Charles Ignatius Sancho had an extraordinary life for anyone let alone an ex slave.. Very well written, my only niggle was that it felt a bit slow to start. However, an excellent historical read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho by Paterson Joseph

It's 1746 and Georgian London is not a safe place for a young Black man, especially one who has escaped slavery. After the twinkling lights in the Fleet Street coffee shops are blown out and the great houses have closed their doors for the night, Sancho must dodge slave catchers and worse. The man he hoped would help - a kindly duke who taught him to write - is dying. Sancho is desperate and utterly alone.

This book is pure heaven . Read it . No , I really mean it , read it.

I could go on and tell you why you should , that the characters and the story is good or wonderful or the author writes beautifully , and I raced through it etc , or that it was the best read this year so far . Put all that aside and read it.

The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho
by Paterson Joseph is a great historical fiction that is based on a true story that kept me engaged from beginning to end. I really enjoyed it!

I have actually read several nonfiction articles regarding Charles Ignatius Sancho in the past, but never anything from a fictional standpoint. I really enjoyed all of the passion, research, and talent the author exhibits with this excellent historical fiction.

With this book, we really are immersed into Georgian England (1740s), and in this case, we get to see so much more. There are so many emotions and feelings that this novel really brought to the forefront and several times, it was truly heartbreaking and difficult to read, but definitely needed. Being able to see how the character, as a Black man, trying to survive, overcome obstacles and difficulties, and how he succeeded, was such a treasure to read.

I highly recommend this one.

5/5 stars

Thank you NG and Dialogue Books/ Little, Brown Book Group UK for this wonderful arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 10/6/22.

I was so excited to read this book and I wasn’t disappointed. This book is beautifully and passionately written. The characters are so vividly written that the Georgian period is brought to life perfectly in this historical novel. I loved the style of writing as it manages to portray a time in history that was full of horrors but it does it very cleverly with poetic writing, humour and larger than life characters that bring home the lessons of history in a memorable way. I know the story is about Sancho but I fell in love with his wife Anne too who is such a strong young women.

I definitely felt immersed in the Georgian era, and the descriptions were so vivid and came alive off the page.
Plot didnt have me completely gripped, but I could see what the author was trying to achieve.

A truly moving, mesmerising and dramatic tale.

In 1729, somewhere in the mid-Atlantic, a baby is born aboard a slave ship and against all odd, he survives. Forward to 1746 and the same boy has escaped slavery and is trying to survive in Georgian London. Constantly on the run from slave catchers and worse, he is seeking one man who might help him - the kindly Duke of Montagu who took him in and taught him to write.

What follows is possibly the most moving and achingly beautiful story I have read in a long time.

Sancho was a real person; he lived and died over two hundred years ago. Written in the form of a memoir, "The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho" takes the reader through a life full of danger, disappointment, hardship and hope, ambition and success. We learn how he was taken in and cared for by three sisters, rose to become a writer, composer and much more. He also became the first Black person to vote in Britain and lead the fight to end slavery.

In his author's note, Mr Joseph says " I have taken a real person and performed an act of fiction on him....seeking first to entertain, with a by-product of enlightenment about the black presence in Britain". And he does just that - taking what could have been a dry retelling of a lesser-known figure and placing him in a world of hate, corruption, injustice and poverty, which moves, educates and inspires the reader.

This is clearly a subject very close the Paterson Joseph's' heart, and indeed, he says that the book is the result of a twenty-year interest in not just the man, but his place in history. He is well-known for bringing stories to life on stage and screen, but this book proves he can do just as good a job on paper. He says "the book is an attempt to add to the growing canon of Black Historical Fiction", and it is. It's also a simple tale of the life of one man and his live and loves.

I was delighted to receive a Netgalley ARC for review, but look forward to picking up a real copy when it's published. This book will live with me for a long time to come. Thoroughly recommended.

This is a story written in beautiful language and expressing the feelings of a slave in England, feelings of love and anger especially.
The Greenwich coven, as he calls the sisters, know of his visits to the duke, and suspect that he is learning to read there. When he is imprisoned in the cellar, by those same sisters, and the slave trader comes to collect him. I will not reveal more of the plot for fear of spoiling it, but this diary is well worth a read, and is recommended.