Cane Warriors

Alex Wheatle

Shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and the UKLA Book Award
Winner of the Young Quills Historical Fiction Award
Shortlisted for the YA Book Prize, Diverse Book Award and Iris Award
Longlisted for the YA Jhalak Prize

Nobody free till everybody free.

Moa is fourteen. The only life he has ever known is toiling on the Frontier sugar cane plantation for endless hot days, fearing the vicious whips of the overseers. Then one night he learns of an uprising, led by the charismatic Tacky. Moa is to be a cane warrior, and fight for the freedom of all the enslaved people in the nearby plantations. But before they can escape, Moa and his friend Keverton must face their first great task: to kill their overseer, Misser Donaldson. Time is ticking, and the day of the uprising approaches . . .
Irresistible, gripping and unforgettable, Cane Warriors follows the true story of Tacky’s War in Jamaica, 1760.

Reviews

"Alex Wheatle writes from a place of honesty and passion with the full knowledge and understanding that change can only happen through words and actions"
Steve McQueen

"It’s passionate, important and Wheatle’s best novel yet"
Children's Book of the Week - Books of the Year, The Times

"A vivid and unforgettable fight for freedom, seen through the eyes of 14-year-old Moa, Wheatle’s tale gives voice to those seldom heard"
Books of the Year, Observer

"Superb ... [An] affecting story of courage, bloodshed and commitment to freedom at all costs"
Guardian

"The importance of this book cannot be overstated. Alex Wheatle takes the truth, and creates fiction to illuminate that truth. He too is a warrior. A word warrior. I saw my ancestors in this book, and now I know that Alex and I really are brothers."
Benjamin Zephaniah