A Respectable Trade was nominated in several BAFTA categories, including best serial, winning one BAFTA for Frances Tempest's historical costumes. [2] Cast [ edit ] Episodes 3 hours ago World’s Most Expensive Cruise: Season 3 Episode 2 (Channel 5 Friday 3 November 2023) The devastating consequences of the slave trade in 18th century are explored through the powerful but impossible attraction of well-born Frances and her slave, Mehuru. From the bestselling author of The Other Boleyn Girl. Philippa Gregory is one of the world’s foremost historical novelists. She wrote her first ever novel, Wideacre, when she was completing her PhD in eighteenth-century literature and it sold worldwide, heralding a new era for historical fiction. Mehuru was a priest and a nobleman in his native Africa and as he comes to terms with his new situation in life, he shows readers what slaverly was like in 1700s England. Thru his eyes, the cruelty, the sorry living conditions, and the frustrations of being another's property is unveiled.

A RESPECTABLE TRADE | Kirkus Reviews

I also liked seeing Mehuru and his interactions with the other slaves. I wish they had a bit more development though, especially Mehuru, seeing as how he was one of the main characters.I’m getting older and I read for pleasure. Why should I continue to read a book that is just not for me? Writer: Philippa Gregory (from her novel) / Music: Julian Nott / Costume Design: Frances Tempest / Production Design: Anthony Ainsworth / Producer: Ruth Baumgarten / Executive Producers: Kevin Menton, Nigel Warren-Green, Ruth Caleb, Michael Wearing / Director: Suri Krishnamma The novel provides an interesting analysis of how an individual's attitudes can change. The Bristol merchants do not seem to adapt at all, and neither do Frances's relatives, but those in her household mostly shift position as the novel progresses. Even the cook and servants, initially as exclusive, aggressive and judgemental as anyone, begin to side with the slaves, and the reader sees that both underclasses are forming a sort of solidarity. Philippa Gregory is a well-known author mainly for her Tudor Court series which is a favourite time period in history for me. I have read all the Tudor novels and loved them immensely like many others, so I thought I would give her earlier books a try.

A Respectable Trade - Historical Novel Society

That being said, the criticism some readers have made about the way Frances’s moral quandry is resolved in the final chapter is pretty valid. Rather than have Frances be brave and confront injustice and live bravely for her convictions, she gets to…die. Kind of a cop-out on Gregory’s part, though it’s possibly preferable to France and Mehuru sailing off to Sierra Leone to live happily together forever and ever. But like I said, this is still a Philippa Gregory book. The dream must mean something. Mehuru had trained as an obalawa – a priest – one of the highest priests in the land. He should be able to divine his own dreams. I am Sensible of the Honour you would do me, Madam, and Conscious of the Advantage your connexion would bring me. But may I also hope that this Proposal of mine will Preserve you from a lifetime of employment to which your Delicate talents and Aristocratic Connexions must render you unfit? Then one day she finds her growing friendship of her "pupils" developing into something more when she falls in love with the enigmatic yet charming Mehuru. Another slave is Mandinka and one is Wolof. They all speak different languages, and we witness the total incomprehension as well as the barbarity of the sailors who have taken these people from their homes.The institution of slavery is thus at the heart of this story, and all the characters in the novel are involved in the trade, or profiting from it - either directly or indirectly. In one way or another, slavery drives all their actions. The novel mainly concerns Frances Scott, an orphan who is living on the kindness of her aunt and uncle, Lord and Lady Scott, and working unhappily as a governess. She sees an advertisement for a new position advertised by Josiah Cole, a merchant involved in the slave trade. Frances has always known about slavery but only in a distant way, The conflict between the two forms an interesting dynamic. Also involved is a pro-abolitionist Dr. Stuart Hadley. The author explores the moral quandry of people such as this doctor, who feels trapped by the knowledge that he has also benefited by the very trade he now despises,

A Respectable Trade - Wikipedia

this book is about a topic so important to me that I wanted to emphasise some of the historical facts". Spoilers: I felt like Frances and Mehru falling in love was entirely unrealistic. It was apparently love at first sight, which is completely implausible. Frances was accustomed to slaves and was only slightly upset when two of them died, yet managed to fall in love with one? Mehru, a leader in his own country, managed to fall in love with the women who owned him, permitted him to be whipped, and eventually agrees to sell him. Only made it through 60 percent of the book because I found that match so unbelievable. It was not at all well developed, just seemed to appear. Episodes 3 hours ago Secrets of the Royal Palaces: Love and Marriage (Channel 5 Saturday 4 November 2023)He gave a little shiver and turned from the doorway. The dream had been very clear – just one image of a looped rope dropping from a stone quayside and snaking through the water to the prow of a ship, whipping its way up the side as it was hauled in, and then the ship moving silently away from the land. There should be nothing to fear in such a sight but the dream had been darkened by a brooding sense of threat which lived with him still. Softcover. Condition: Good. 4 books by Philippa Gregory: Earthy Joys, 2005; The Queen's Fool, 2004; The Cousin's War: The Red Queen , 2010; A Respectable Trade, 2007. All books are used in good condition, spine creases, edge wear. Philippa is a member of the Society of Authors and in 2016, was presented with the Outstanding Contribution to Historical Fiction Award by the Historical Writers’ Association. In 2018, she was awarded an Honorary Platinum Award by Nielsen for achieving significant lifetime sales across her entire book output. Cast: Warren Clarke as Josiah Cole; Anna Massey as Sarah Cole; Emma Fielding as Frances Cole, nee Scott; Ariyon Bakare as Mehuru; Richard Briers as Sir Charles Fairley; Jenny Agutter as Lady Scott; Simon Williams as Lord Scott; Tanya Moodie as Rachel; Jenny Jules as Elizabeth Phillips Gregory has never disappointed me with a story of a historical nature. I can count on her abilities to immerse me in fantastic and appropriate detail and to always tell a good tale, no matter the setting. I am most familiar with this author from her fiction books on English royalty and their lineage over many different centuries and family lines.

A Respectable Trade (1998) | MUBI A Respectable Trade (1998) | MUBI

She had no notion of Africa before the coming of the British, of a huge continent populated by a complex of different peoples and kingdoms, of trading and barter stations, of caravans of goods which crossed from one nation to another; of men and women, some living like peasants working the land, some living in towns and cities and working in industries, some established in hereditary kingdoms seated on thrones of gold and ivory and living like gods. She had no interest in the slaves as people who had come from a living and potent culture." The writing is typical Philippa Gregory style, and it's utilized very well in this novel. Everything is descriptive, and it's gritty and realistic. She uses lots of unflinching descriptions in this, and it pays off really well. When she marries Cole, Frances doesn’t realise he expects her to help run his business. When she does get involved she develops an attraction to slave Mehuru (Ariyon Baker).

It was a life that turned in tune with the earth, that followed the rains, that chimed with the seasons. It was as alien to slavery as a silver-winged flight of cattle egrets to a moulting hen in a coop." This was a totally different direction for her, and I think it payed off fairly well. Instead of writing of the intricacies of the Tudor Court, she instead heads forward in time to write about the brutality of the Bristol slave trade and the romance between a noblelady and one of her slaves. He got up from his sleeping platform, wrapped a sheet around him and went quietly to the door. The city of Oyo was silent. He looked down his street; no light showed. Only in the massive palace wall could he see a moving light as a servant walked from room to room, the torch shining from each window he passed.