Washington Black

George Washington "Wash" Black is born into slavery on the Faith Plantation in Barbados. He is raised by Big Kit, another slave, who was born in Dahomey and remembers a life before slavery. When Wash was eleven, the owner of the plantation dies and the plantation is turned over to his nephew, the extraordinarily cruel Erasmus Wilde. Wash's life continues on much as it did before, with back breaking labour in the fields, until he and Big Kit are called to serve in the main house. There he meets Wilde's younger brother, Christopher "Titch" Wilde, a scientist, who enlists Wash as his manservant. Titch teaches Wash to read and cook and, after noticing he is a prodigious artist, allows him to focus on drawing. Titch and Erasmus are later joined by their unpleasant cousin Philip. Titch enlists Wash's help in the construction of a hydrogen airship, and as a result of this Wash receives serious facial burns in a gas explosion.

Philip eventually reveals to Erasmus and Titch that their father has died, leading Erasmus to hatch a plan to move back to England for a few years, leaving Titch in charge. He furthermore refuses to sell Wash to Titch, having become aware both of how close they are and of Wash's artistic talents. While arrangements are still being made, Phillip leads Wash to the cloud-cutter and then kills himself in front of Wash. When Wash reveals what has happened Titch realizes that Erasmus will murder Wash in retaliation for Phillip's death. To save Wash the two escape on the cloud-cutter. Due to a sudden storm, they only make it to sea where Titch directs them to crash into a merchant ship. There they meet the German captain Bendikt Kinast and his brother, the ships doctor Theo Kinast. Though the brothers guess that Wash is a runaway slave, they nevertheless decide to take Titch and Wash to Virginia.

In Virginia, Titch learns that his brother has hired a bounty hunter to capture Wash, a Mr. Willard. While there they also meet up with a penpal of Titch's named Edward Farrow, who is an abolitionist. While at Farrow's Titch also learns that his father may still be alive, prompting him to decide to go to the Arctic to see him. Farrow and Titch offer Wash the opportunity to escape to Upper Canada where former slaves are able to live in freedom. Wash declines and decides to continue on his travels with Titch, joining him on his trip to the Arctic.

In the Arctic, Titch learns that his father is in fact alive, but Wash is surprised that their reunion is so cold, and Titch's father is indifferent to his son. Wash urges Titch to tell him that they are on the run from Erasmus, but rather than helping him, Mr. Wilde is indifferent to his sons and their quarrel. Devastated by his father, Titch decides to leave the Arctic and Wash behind. Though Wash tries to follow him he is unsuccessful, and Titch disappears during a snowstorm. Mr. Wilde tries to find him, but after searching for several days he comes back empty-handed and dies of a fever. No longer under the protection of either Wilde, Wash decides to take Titch's advice and resettles in Shelburne, Nova Scotia. From the ages of thirteen to sixteen, Wash lives a life of fear, afraid that the bounty on his head will be collected. After spying some jellyfish on the docks, he remembers his interest in illustration and turns to that passion anew.

He meets Tanna, a fellow aspiring illustrator and the daughter of renowned marine biologist G.M. Goff. Wash works with Goff and Tanna to collect and illustrate marine specimens, and has the novel idea of creating an aquarium. Tanna and Wash eventually fall in love and have sex after Wash is attacked by Mr. Willard. Wash had fought off Willard's attack, knifing him through the eye, but had been injured himself.

Getting word that Titch may be alive, Wash follows Tanna and Goff to London, where the three begin work on their aquarium. Wash and Tanna look for information into Wash's past life and discover that Big Kit is Wash's mother. Wash attends Willard's public hanging for murder at Newgate Prison.

Wash and Tanna eventually track down Titch in Marrakesh, Morocco. In the deserts outside of Marrakesh, Wash finds Titch living alone with a young Moroccan boy. Wash confronts Titch about their time together and his abandonment of Wash. A desert storm comes down upon the camp and, having received no satisfactory answer from Titch, the book ends with Wash beginning to walk off into the swirling sand.

• George Washington "Wash" Black, a young boy born into slavery who is quite accidentally chosen to serve as Titch's groomsmen and discovers as a result of helping him in his scientific experiments that he is an art prodigy.
• Big Kit, Wash's mother figure, a woman born in Dahomey who nurtures Wash in his early years.
• Christopher "Titch" Wilde, a white man born in England to a life of privilege, he is a second born son and follows in his father's footsteps in becoming interested in science.
• Erasmus Wilde, the man who comes to inherit the plantation Wash lives on after the previous master dies. Erasmus is extraordinarily cruel and violent and his arrival causes a wave of suicides among the slaves.
• Tanna Goff, a mixed race woman, the daughter of a scientist, who falls in love with Wash
• G.M. Goff, an older scientist who begins to work with Wash on a number of scientific projects

Washington Black received positive early reviews. Trade journals Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, and Library Journal all gave the book starred reviews.[1][4][5] The New York Times Book Review praised the novel for "complicat[ing] the historical narrative by focusing on one unique and self-led figure."[6]. The New Yorker praises both the novel's success as historical fiction and at taking on grand themes such as love and freedom, writing "That striving—the delicate, indomitable, and often doomed power of human love—haunts "Washington Black." It burns in the black sea of history like the jellyfish in the Nova Scotia bay, no more than a collection of wisps in the darkness, but a glory all the same, however much it stings."[7]

The novel was also shortlisted for the 2018 Booker Prize,[8] the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize,[9] and the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.[10]