A Respectable Trade [Hardcover]

Philippa Gregory (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1995

Through her husband's trade in sugar and slaves, Frances Scott, the poor daughter of an aristocrat, meets and falls in love with an African nobleman, and together they challenge the English society of the late 1700s.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This moral spellbinder, set in Bristol, England, in the slave-trading 1780s, is being freshly issued a decade after publication Although the sentences are not as fine as in Gregory's current work (The Other Boleyn Girl etc.), and the plot takes some awkward leaps, the book brilliantly shocks the conscience with its intimate and unsparing portrait of slavery. It's a romance, but not a sentimental one, built around the impossible love between white slave owner Frances Scott Cole and the black African Mehuru, a priest and adviser to his king before being kidnapped and designated as property. A strength of the book is that although Gregory, as usual, makes us feel the second-class status of 18th century women, she draws no cheap comparison between Frances's status as silk-clad chattel (to her gaspingly ambitious slave-trader husband, Josiah's) and the rigors and terrors of a black slave's life. Superb portraits abound, especially that of Josiah's sister, Sarah, a cranky spinster who makes poetry of her pride in being a member of the trading class, eagle-eyed at the account books. Gregory's vivid portrait leaves one feeling complicit; as the abolitionist Doctor Hadley notes: "the cruelty we have learned will poison us forever."
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

"The great roar and sweep of history is successfully braided into the intimate daily detail of this compelling and intelligent book."

-- Penny Perrick, The Times (London) --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins (July 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060176636
• ISBN-13: 978-0060176631
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,018,809 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in Kenya in 1954, Philippa Gregory moved to England with her family and was educated in Bristol and at the National Council for the Training of Journalists course in Cardiff. She worked as a senior reporter on the Portsmouth News, and as a journalist and producer for BBC radio.

Philippa obtained a BA degree in history at the University of Sussex in Brighton and a PhD at Edinburgh University in 18th-century literature. Her first novel, Wideacre, was written as she completed her PhD and became an instant world wide bestseller. On its publication, she became a full-time writer, and now lives with her family on a small farm in the North of England.

Her knowledge of gothic 18th century novels led to Philippa writing Wideacre, which was followed by a haunting sequel, The Favoured Child, and the delightful happy ending of the trilogy: Meridon. This novel was listed in Feminist Book Fortnight and for the Romantic Novel of the Year at the same time - one of the many instances of Philippa's work appealing to very different readers.

The trilogy was followed by The Wise Woman, a dazzling, disturbing novel of dark powers and desires set against the rich tapestry of the Reformation, and by Fallen Skies, an evocative realistic story set after the First World War. Her novel A Respectable Trade took her back to the 18th century where her knowledge of the slave trade and her home town of Bristol produced a haunting novel of slave trading and its terrible human cost. This is the only modern novel to explore the tragedies of slavery in England itself, and features a group of kidnapped African people trying to find their freedom in the elegant houses of 18th century Clifton. Gregory adapted her book for a highly acclaimed BBC television production which won the prize for drama from the Commission for Racial Equality and was shortlisted for a BAFTA for the screenplay.

Next came two of Gregory's best-loved novels, Earthly Joys and Virgin Earth, based on the true-life story of father and son John Tradescant working in the upheaval of the English Civil War. In these works Gregory pioneered the genre which has become her own: fictional biography, the true story of a real person brought to life with painstaking research and passionate verve.

The flowering of this new style was undoubtedly The Other Boleyn Girl, a runaway best-seller which stormed the US market and then went worldwide telling the story of the little-known sister to Anne Boleyn. Now published in 26 countries with more than a million copies in print in the US alone, this is becoming a classic historical novel, winning the Parker Pen Novel of the Year award 2002, and the Romantic Times fictional biography award. The Other Boleyn Girl was adapted for the BBC as a single television drama and a film is now in production starring Scarlett Johansson as Mary Boleyn, Natalie Portman as Anne Boleyn and Eric Bana as Henry VIII.

A regular contributor to newspapers and magazines, with short stories, features and reviews, Philippa is also a frequent broadcaster and a regular contestant on Round Britain Quiz for BBC Radio 4 and the Tudor expert for Channel 4's Time Team.

She lives in the North of England with her husband and two children and in addition to interests that include riding, walking, skiing and gardening (an interest born from research into the Tradescant family for her novel, Virgin Earth), she also runs a small charity building wells in school gardens in The Gambia. Fifty-six wells have been built by UK donors to date.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic read, January 1, 2007

By 

Romance reader (Hopkinton, Ma) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Respectable Trade (Paperback)

I wouldn't exactly call this a romance. More of a historical account of the horrors of slavery. Francis Scott marries a man that does not suit her at all. Considered old and impoverished, her new station in life is to teach the people her husband and his sister kidnap from Africa to sell as slaves - a fact Francis learns after she has married. Francis is quite caring and compassionate & soon falls for one of the slaves, Mehuru. Mehuru proves to be everything her own husband isn't - warm, caring, sensitive and attentive. The tale of this pair's faith and hope is downright heartbreaking. Knowing they can not live as a couple in England - especially with Francis' being married, Francis and Mehuru must hide their feelings for each other. Again, the horrors of slavery are shocking and disturbing . Pretty accurate in portrayal since slavery was one of the ugliest events in time. Philippa Gregory is often called a romance novelist. The title historical fiction writer would serve her better. This highly informed and talented writer's work is a pleasure to read! Although I enjoyed the novel, I found the ending to be a bit of a letdown. Too many loose-ends are left untied - rendering it only 4 stars.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An intriguing premise, May 12, 2005

By 

Deborah Silverberg "deb1000faces" (Baytown, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Respectable Trade (Paperback)

I have to say, I found the main romance of this novel more than a bit unbelievable, but once I suspended my disbelief and gave the story a chance, it became very moving. I think one of the best things about the story is how every main character, no matter how misguided or negative their actions, is not a bad person. They all make mistakes, but they all have an element of decency, and each of them is trying to do what he or she feels is the right thing to do. The book is another affirmation of the basic evil of slavery, but it doesn't preach about it- Gregory makes the point through moving, character-driven scenes. This book really made me view history in an entirely new light.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good historical fiction, February 1, 2002

By 

Lilly "navehil" (RAMAT HASHARON ISRAEL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Respectable Trade (Windsor Selections) (Hardcover)

This well written historical novel gives a glimpse into a less well known aspect of slavery namely, the slave trade in England. The depictions of life in 18th C Bristol are believable. The follies of the newly rich are applicable to all times and were amusing. The romance between the Yoruban slave and the mistress of the house is a bit overdone but a useful vehicle for the plot. What kept this from being really excellent was the somewhat superficial characterizations.