Before We Set Sail

Book excerpt: It is 1755 - 1756 within the deep interiors of West Africa. A boy of eleven years is kidnapped with his eight year old sister. Strap your sandals and embark on an intriguing journey with Olaudah Equiano as he weaves a captivating tale of escape and resale from one African slave master to another. Get lost in time as Olaudah renders the most enchanting accounts of the implausible events he encountered during his travels as a child slave, from the interiors to the coast of West Africa. Before We Set Sail offers a gripping, refreshingly witty and highly adventurous account of the Africa of 1755 - 56, from the double points of view of an African boy and a British adult writing in 1796. Out of 250 submissions, Before We Set Sail was one of six shortlisted for the Penguin Publishers Award for African Writing.