Title- The Girl From The Sugar Plantation
Author- Sharon Maas
Publisher- Bookouture
Pages- 336
Rating- 4.5/5
Summary- Mary Grace, the only daughter of a plantation owner leads an extravagant life and has everything one could wish for except white skin colour. Being of mixed race, she is unable to find company amongst neither the whites nor the coloured ones and eventually finds solace in music. It is through music that she discovers Jock Campbell, her one true love. However, Jock is also the owner of Albion estate and a newcomer in British Guiana. As he gets to understand the plantation business, he is horrified to notice the poor working conditions of the workers in the sugar plantations and wants to bring about a change in the system which leads to a conflict with the other plantation owners (including Mary Grace's mother) who are adamant in compromising their profit for the sake of the coolies. A time comes when this clash starts to jeopardize his romantic life and he has to choose between his love and his principle.
Review- It is a historical fiction set against the backdrop of 1930s-40s British Guiana when racism was quite prevalent. The story is partially based on the life of John Middleton Campbell (Jock) who was the chairman of Booker McConnell and had played a significant role in shaping the future of the country. The author's description is quite enthralling. She has beautifully captured the lifestyle, landscape and people of British Guiana around the time of Second World War. The book gives a lot of insight into the sugar plantation business during the British colonial rule. It was quite shocking to know that the mules in the plantations lived in a better condition than the workers.
Since childhood Mary Grace had observed people talking about her in hushed tones and had always wanted to know about her true identity. She was always an outcast in the white society in which her mother belonged. Though her mother loves her dearly, she is not so close to her as with Aunt Winnie, her mother's sister, who lives in Georgetown with her eight sons. Winnie is a true homemaker unlike her sister who is a plantation owner in Promised Land. The two sisters are poles apart in every way- while Winnie supports the workers and is against racism, her sister Yoyo always wants to exploit the workers and dislikes coloured people.
"I believe that there should be values other than money in a civilised society. I believe that truth, beauty and goodness have a place. Moreover, I believe that if businessmen put money, profit, greed and acquisition among the highest virtues, they cannot be surprised if, for instance, nurses, teachers and ambulance men are inclined to do the same."-Jock Campbell
The character of Jock Campbell is quite appealing. Despite being a plantation owner he feels for his employees which is quite unusual during a time when all plantation owners exploit their coolies for their own benefit.
The middle portion of the book seemed a bit dragged and it would have been a better read if those parts were omitted.
Overall it was a delightful read and I would highly recommend this book to lovers of historical fiction and/or romance. It is also a perfect read for those folks who want to travel the world through books.
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