This is a brilliant, fascinating book. It's the story of the Demerara Uprising primarily, examining the key figures involved and the aftermath. This is interspersed with passages describing the reactions the author got when asking his acquaintances on their opinions on whether the descendants of enslaved people should be paid reparations. I was very keen to read this book as I believe we should talk and learn more about Britain's role in the slave trade. This is a massive part in our history, and we need to acknowledge it. This book is fantastic, and I recommend it highly.

I've not read any of Harding's previous books as World War-related non-fiction just never interests me; this was a subject I gravitate more towards so gave him a go. This book looked at a specific uprising on plantations in what is current-day-Guyana, and the place that gave Demerara sugar it's name. To do so, it follows 4 figures from the event to show us what led to the uprising, and the outcome on each of them. Interspersed within the narratives of these figures, it had short sections showing Harding's work into researching the book and exploring whether he is the right person to explore this issue; this structure was something I'd not seen before, but I felt it really added to it in a way that couldn't have been achieved if these sections were all grouped together or omitted entirely. Harding decided to explore this topic after the discovery of how his family profited from the slave industry and I felt he explored this discussion well. He also highlighted the untruths that have perpetuated in modern Britain's about our involvement with the slave trade and its affects today. This was a really worthwhile read and has compelled me to reach out from my usual reading topics to give his 'The House By The Lake' a try too.