Beautifully written, completely captivating and quite disturbing. A novel about a slave in Barbados who gets chosen to be a companion to an aspiring scientist from a plantation family, then becomes free to wander parts of the world. The writing voice is formal, from another time, and alternately sweet and brutal. Highly recommended for those who appreciate literary fiction and enjoy being transported into the lives and emotions of folks quite different from themselves.
This book is beautifully written and the author is obviously very gifted. However, I found it boring. The main character floats around in a balloon briefly then travels all over the world in a sort of search for identity.