I was very grateful to get the chance to read this own voices book ahead of publication, and I definitely think it is one that I will return to and reread in the future.

Going into this book, I knew next to nothing about slavery in the British colonies and its “abolition” - in quotation marks because, as you’ll find out just like I did when reading the book, although slavery was officially abolished on paper by the government, the black plantation workers were forced to remain in a 6 year apprenticeship under much the same working conditions as before.

Throughout reading the book, I felt like the author really put a lot of effort into doing her research, both in terms of history but mostly in regard to what these “free” slaves were going through on a psychological level. The result of this is a very educating read that was emotional and gripping and raw and beautiful. Rachel’s story was both extremely personal but also seemed representative of the broader shared experience of the Caribbean people who were oppressed under British rule.

The reason why I am not quite giving this book a full 5 stars is because at times, I found it to be rather rushed. I know the author had to cover a lot of ground in a rather short time with this story, but some parts I do wish to have been elaborated on more. In particular, I would have liked to get an even better understanding of what freedom meant to the different characters, and how each of their pasts influenced that stance.

I really liked the design choice of the book cover with the river and the birds. There are two instances in the book where a river plays an important role for the plot, first in finding Rachel‘s second son and then in saving her family. The main river on the cover has five arms, representing the five children Rachel is trying to find, and I feel like the seven birds additionally represent the two new family members she gains during her search. And, of course, it also just looks very pretty.

4.5/5 stars.

Eleanor Shearer’s debut novel, River Sing Me Home, is a quite remarkable book which clearly depicts the length and breadth of a mother’s love.

In it, we meet Rachel a slave in Barbados, whose hopes of freedom are dashed when she discovers that, even while slavery has been ‘ended’ by Great Britain, in the Caribbean former slaves will still be forced to work as apprentices, meaning Rachel’s careful plans to go out and find the children that have been sold away from her turn into a night-time flight.

A chance encounter with a unique community sets her on a path that leads around the region, always searching for her children, and coming to terms with what freedom means for her.

It was so fascinating to read in the author notes that this story is based on the true stories of women in the Caribbean as they searched for their children and the power of this book is that it focuses on that and not on the period before. Of course, there are some harrowing moments for all the characters in recalling their past lives, and for Rachel as she constantly looks over her shoulder, waiting to be taken back to the plantation, but Eleanor Shearer concentrates on the hopefulness of Rachel’s search and, ultimately, how she begins to look to the future and not back into the painful past.

The most powerful part of the book for me was not Rachel’s actual journey, but the journey she takes in trying to embrace her freedom and decide what that means to her. By the end of the novel the green shoots are there, but we can only imagine how Rachel and her family with continue to grow after we leave them.

An incredible book and a definite ‘keeper’!

That’s to the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC

What a gut wrenching/ heartbreaking a story, “a mothers love is a mothers love” I always say and this applies to this story so much!.

Everyone please read this you will not regret it, you’ll be reading page after page rooting for them all so much.

Wow this is a truly brilliant book. A sweeping and beautiful work of historical fiction set initially in Barbados, then across the Caribbean, this astonishingly well written debut deals with the brutal life of slaves in the 1800s, and in particular one woman's determination to find her stolen children. One of the most moving and incredible books I have ever read, this books deserves huge success and recognition. Highly recommended.
With grateful thanks to NetGalley, Headline and Eleanor Shearer for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

Based on the real-life women who went looking for their stolen children at the end of slavery. This novel begins on a plantation in Barbados just as the Emancipation act is coming into effect. The slaves however learn they are not to be freed but are to stay on as apprentices.

Rachel decides that now is the time to find her 5 children who were taken and sold. Rachel's search goes from Barbados to Guiana and Trinidad meeting a whole host of characters on the way some I loved and others I hated.

This is one of the most moving stories I have ever read.

It’s 1834 and according to the law, on the Caribbean island of Barbados slavey has been abolished.
However, for Rachel, true freedom will only come when she has learnt what has happened to the five children who had been taken from her and sold.

This story was inspired by the women who, in the aftermath of slavery, went in search of their lost children and is such a powerful and compelling read

It really is a beautiful story both inside and out, and can definitely see this debut being a huge success in 2023

This moving, beautifully-written début brought tears to my eyes on more than one occasion. A rare gem in twenty-first century fiction releases to date.

Telling her story almost entirely from Rachel's point of view, Eleanor Shearer's writing is intelligent and sensitive. Her descriptive powers and language are commendable, but the plot-driven narrative makes her characters feel more like puppets on a stage than living, breathing people with emotions leading difficult, traumatic lives. I do, however, see potential for more 'rounded' characterisation which, I hope, Shearer will build and improve upon in future novels. This author is certainly one I can imagine going from strength to strength and I shall follow her progress keenly.

Many thanks to the publishers and to Netgalley for the ARC.

Any Cop?:

Set in Barbados in the 19th Century, Rachel is a runaway slave - whilst slaves have been told they are free as the King ends slavery, the plantation owner demands they must stay on to work as his "apprentices" which in reality is little different to slavery.

Rachel choosesto escape, not just for her own freedom but to find her 5 children who were taken from her over the years.

Given the subject matter, of course this is at times a difficult read, but it's ultimately about freedom, strength and perseverance. Beautifullywritten and poignant.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

What an incredible debut of the exploration of Rachel’s life after slavery. It was so empowering to see how brave and determined Rachel was in order to find her children and there were no limits to how far she would go to find out what had become of her five children.

There were so many beautiful moments as well as heart wrenching moments within this book that left me sobbing. I have not felt this absorbed into a book for a long time. I truly did not want it to end. However, I am so glad that it ended the way that it did - it made me so happy and I couldn’t stop crying.

The pacing of this book was incredible - everything was revealed just at the right time and left such an impression. It was uncovered slowly but it all came together beautifully.

I absolutely loved Eleanor’s writing style, as well as how each chapter was short but contained so much information and how each paragraph was short so I felt like I was immersed in the story and could retain the information. This book felt so personal throughout and I think that was due to the author’s background with her family living in St Lucia and Barbados.

Thank you to NetGalley and Headline Review for giving me an ARC of this book. This book will be available on 19th January 2023 as a e-book for £7.99 or hardback for £18.99.

This review has been posted to my NetGalley and Goodreads accounts. This review will be posted next week on my TikTok and Instagram accounts.

⚠️ content warnings: slavery, human trafficking, murder, guns, gun use, plantations, whipping, facial disfigurement, vomiting, miscarriage, child death, grief, physical assault, prostitution, shooting, mentions drowning, pregnancy, cheating and rape, derogatory language, racism, alcohol use, blood, fertility issues, death, threatening behaviour and colonialism ⚠️

I literally couldn't stop thinking about this book after reading it. It was such a captivating, heart wrenching and powerful read. I loved it!
The story starts in 1834. Rachel is a slave on a plantation in Barbados. The Emancipation Act has been passed but unfortunately this has not led to freedom so Rachel is forced to try and run away. What follows is her story as she tries to find each of her children who were forcibly taken from her at a young age and sent to different plantations/slave owners and unknown destinations whilst she was held captive.
I loved the characters in this story and was desperate for Rachel to be reunited with her children. The places she travelled through on the Carribean islands and people she met were fascinating.

The book is so well written and heart breaking in places. Rachel's resilience through all the horrific situations she had to face is remarkable. I could barely bring myself to read the final few chapters as the situation becomes so desperate and so awful!
This is an amazing story which captures the brutality and horror of this time as well as portraying the hope, love and absolute unstoppable determination a mother has to find her children. A moving and unforgettable read.

This historical novel tells a story from an important part of Caribbean history. We follow Rachel whose fight for freedom begins when the Emancipation Act comes into effect. Yet, it appears that slavery continues and Rachel's life is to continue much as it was before. However, Rachel can endure it no longer. Her escape and subsequent fight for liberty are motivated by one thing - her desire to be reunited with her lost children, separated from her by the cruelty of the slave trade.

The prose in this novel was often beautiful and this part of Caribbean history was clearly close to Shearer's heart and were movingly crafted around the themes of love and motherhood.

However, for me the plot was too linear. There were few twists and turns and the storyline lacked depth. Each moment felt a little rushed and was tackled in too superficial a way. There needed more scene setting, build up and creativity surrounding the storytelling.

Having said this the characters and subject matter did move me and I am glad to have read something clearly well researched from this period in Caribbean history.

This honest review is given with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

This book is amazing. It is not an easy read but at the heart there is Rachel, a mother who cannot rest until she finds the children wrenched from her. The characters leap from the page and bring the book to life. At times the book made me achingly sad, furious and elated. I will vividly remember this story forever.

I was intrigued by #RiverSingMeHome by Eleanor Shearer from the premise and was over the moon reading this with my book bestie Sissi🥰 It was an emotional and powerful story set in the Caribbean about a mother determined to find her children in the immediate aftermath of slavery. I liked how the book was split up into following each child’s journey. I learned so much reading this book and the writing was beautiful and heartbreaking. I didn’t really feel a connection with any of the characters but it didn’t take away my enjoyment of the book. The power of love and hope is at the heart of this book and I highly recommend for historical fiction fans. What a debut

A tender and heartbreaking story of freedom, loss and reconnection.

I love that the author explores all these themes from different perspectives. Rachel is an incredible protagonist and we're taken along on a literal and spiritual journey as Rachel used her new found freedom to search for her serviving children. This brings up complex emotions such as elation in some instances, greif in others and also the knowledge that both she and her children, have been changed by captivity and adjustment to freedom.

One son touches on this sutsinctly when he says some people want to relive and talk about the past whilst others want to ignore it.

Also it's very apparent that each individual has a different idea and experience of what freedom means.

Absolutely breathtaking and insightful.

A moving and haunting story of a mother's enduring love for her children and the resilience of people.

While heartbreaking, this is a story of hope and love, based on real life events and history.

A powerful and heartbreaking story of a mother’s love and her search for the children stolen from her by slavery. Beautifully written and an important history lesson.

This is such an incredibly moving read. The courage and conviction of the protagonist is compelling and I learned so much. Work like this just reinforces my wish that I had been taught about colonialisation and its legacy at school - it's such an important topic. I eagerly anticipate Shearer's next novel!

A very powerful yet very accessible story of Rachel, a slave in Barbados, who manages to escape to try and find the children that she bore that were taken from her as young children. She doesn’t know what happened to them, some sold on as slaves themselves, some may not have survived. This is a story of motherhood that never leaves you and the desperate longing that never leaves.
Just horrifying and staggering that this is all based on the lives of real women, and a reminder of the total and unthinkable brutality that was so real for so many. This might be a work of fiction but very much based on real life.

This is a heartbreaking and powerful story dealing with one of the most devastating and unthinkable aspects of slavery- that the children of slaves were often taken away from their families and sold on, with no further contact or even knowledge of what happened to each other. When slavery ends, Rachel determines to find her five missing children, now adults and taken individually by different owners. Her search will take her from Barbados, across land and seas to other Caribbean islands, and not all the news she discovers will be happy. She is also in danger, considered a runaway, as the “freedom” the slaves are granted involves them having to continue to work as employees for their old masters for a number of years, and a slave-catcher is in pursuit. Rachel will find help and friendship from others along the way, but we are left in no doubt about the terrible cost of this inhumane system and the suffering will not easily be forgotten. Lyrically written and filled with both sorrow and hope, this is an emotional and enlightening book. I did feel at times that the “quest” nature of the narrative meant that it sometimes dragged, as the stories of Rachel’s sons and daughters are told in the past tense so can seem rather static, but it is impossible not to be moved and to be willing Rachel to find her lost loved ones.

What an incredible, moving debut novel.

The story is one to lose yourself in. Rachel, a slave on a Barbados plantation, runs away to find her children who have been sold across the years. You really journey with her as she searches, navigating what is for her a strange new world. She faces cruelty and violence, heartbreak and joy and you are urging her on the whole way

The writing is beautiful - slow and lyrical evoking the gentle rhythm of the Caribbean.

The characters too are quiet. None of them are particularly verbal, communicating much of the time through intuition or simple touches reinforcing the meandering, river-like pace of the book.

Rachel meets an interesting mix of people throughout her journey. As well as listening to their stories and gaining an insight into their lives, many of them help Rachel to come to terms with her history and predicament.

As much as this is a story of slavery, it is more a story of humanity, the kindness of strangers and the lengths we will go to for those we love.

A multi-layered beautiful book and I look forward to reading more from the author

Huge thanks to NetGalley & Headline for the chance to read an early copy