Eleanor Shearer at Harvard Book Store

Harvard Book Store welcomes debut author ELEANOR SHEARER for a discussion of her novel River Sing Me Home, which has been named a "Most Anticipated Book of 2023" by Goodreads, AARP, Boston.com, and BookRiot.

A Return to In-Person Events

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• Face coverings are required of all staff and attendees when inside the store. Masks must snugly cover nose and mouth.

About River Sing Me Home

The master of the Providence plantation in Barbados gathers his slaves and announces the king has decreed an end to slavery. As of the following day, the Emancipation Act of 1834 will come into effect. The cries of joy fall silent when he announces that they are no longer his slaves; they are now his apprentices. No one can leave. They must work for him for another six years. Freedom is just another name for the life they have always lived. So Rachel runs.

Away from Providence, she begins a desperate search to find her children—the five who survived birth and were sold. Are any of them still alive? Rachel has to know. The grueling, dangerous journey takes her from Barbados then, by river, deep into the forest of British Guiana and finally across the sea to Trinidad. She is driven on by the certainty that a mother cannot be truly free without knowing what has become of her children, even if the answer is more than she can bear. These are the stories of Mary Grace, Micah, Thomas Augustus, Cherry Jane and Mercy. But above all this is the story of Rachel and the extraordinary lengths to which a mother will go to find her children...and her freedom.

Praise for River Sing Me Home

“A powerful novel that explores how freedom and family are truly defined.” —Marie Benedict, New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Personal Librarian

"An extraordinary odyssey of pain, love, and homecoming as Rachel searches not only for her children but for her own past, her own independence, and her own soul. A haunting and powerful debut.” —Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Diamond Eye

"A strong and beautiful novel that stares into the face of brutality and the heart of love." —Jeanette Winterson, New York Times bestselling author of 12 Bytes