In the reverse-image past that Evaristo imagines, civilized Africans have built a vibrant culture and economy by capturing primitive Europeans and using them as slaves. Questo romanzo esilarante è una satira intelligente sulla razza e la schiavitù: una rivisitazione sulla tratta degli schiavi, a parti invertite.

She is Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University, London, and Vice Chair of the Royal Society of Literature. She is the co-editor of two recent anthologies and a special issue of Wasafiri magazine: Black Britain: Beyond Definition, which celebrated and reevaluated the black writing scene in Britain.There is a minstrel show where performers “whtye up”, they “whyte up and do Morris Dancing (yes really! Il tono è satirico, e forse questo è il limite del romanzo: il rischio di scivolare nel macchiettistico, con l’intenzione forse di strappare qualche (amaro) sorriso. Is it a sort of "torture porn" for those who'd like to read about Europeans being whipped and raped for once? If only I'd known then that I had already lost my family and neighbourhood, that I would soon lose my name, my language and my country, then my stupid legs would have taken the risk - I'd have dashed into the undergrowth without a backward glance.

Evaristo φέρνει τα πάνω κάτω σε όσα ξέραμε για την κυριαρχία των λευκών, τη σκλαβιά και την κακομεταχείριση των έγχρωμων, αλλά και τον κόσμο τον ίδιο. This ingenious bit of "what-if" speculation provides the backdrop for a thrilling adventure about a "whyte" woman named Doris Scagglethorpe who works as a "house wigger" for Chief Kaga Konata Katamba. An account of one woman’s story living through the tragedy and obscenity of the transatlantic slave trade…but given one hell of a twist! I suppose his reaction is not so different from that of the British Raj when confronted with the Hindu practice of sati or suttee (the ritual killing of widows on their husband's funeral pyre). Rather, it is a slightly surreal, alternative reality, embracing multiple historical epochs, in which every instance of racial and colonial prejudice is inverted.Si erano convinti che noi non provavamo emozioni come loro, e quindi non si sentivano obbligati a provare emozioni per noi.