River Sing Me Home

At the tavern, Albert introduces Rachel to the tavern’s owner and landlord. Rachel notes the man’s prim and thin appearance. The landlord asks Rachel if she wants to work for him and if she was an enslaved person. Rachel tells him that she was. The landlord tells her that Albert will supervise her for the week, and that she, Nobody, and Mary Grace can have the room at the tavern in lieu of wages.

Rachel works with Albert, learning how the tavern operates. Through Albert, Rachel learns that the landlord’s name is Tobias Beaumont. She and Albert develop an acquaintanceship. While wandering Georgetown one day, Rachel makes it to a plantation. Before she can ask the enslaved people if any of them have seen Micah or Thomas Augustus, a white man with a gun threatens her. Rachel flees for her life.

Back at the tavern, Beaumont scolds Rachel for being late. He threatens that if she is late again, he will contact authorities because he knows that she is a fugitive. Rachel obliges, her self-esteem sinking. Mary Grace reminds her mother of her power through a touch. Renewed by Mary Grace, Rachel returns to work.

Due to a slow night, Albert tells Rachel to leave the tavern. Rachel walks the streets again. She enters a dream-like state in which she chases a shadow child, believing it to be one of her missing children. The chase ends at the burial ground where Rachel corners the shadow child. Wanting to keep the shadow child from the ravenous dead in the graveyard, she grabs it. When the shadow child screams, she realizes that she was not chasing one of her children but Nuno, an orphaned Akawaio boy. Worried for Nuno, Rachel persuades him to follow her to the tavern. She feeds him and takes him to the room that she shares with Mary Grace and Nobody. Nuno explains that he was in Georgetown because his father was looking for work. When his father died, he had nowhere else to go—his mother had also died. As Rachel listens, she reflects on the “stories in Barbados about the ones who were there before” (130): the Indigenous peoples of the island.

Nuno agrees to stay with Rachel for the night. He asks why Rachel is helping him. Rachel thinks of Mama B and explains that she helps because she was once helped. By morning, Nuno leaves. When Albert later arrives, Rachel tells Albert the truth about her missing children. Albert reassures Rachel by voicing his hope that she will find them.

Through her conversations with Albert, Rachel learns why Beaumont seems uneasy in the tavern. Albert explains that Beaumont was accused of “passing” by a white rival. The rumor was so strong that he left that area of Georgetown for a new start and purchased the tavern from Albert’s former master. Because of the tavern’s location, Beaumont could not afford to discriminate against the tavern’s patrons.

Later that evening, while working, Rachel sees Nobody talking to a white man. The men are enjoying each other’s company. When Nobody points toward her, Rachel joins them. Nobody explains that the white man accompanying him is Captain Grafton, a captain whom he saved from a mutiny years before. Captain Grafton remembers a man named Braithwaite who may have bought one of her sons.

After retiring for the night, Rachel sees Nobody and Mary Grace sitting next to one another on the bed. Understanding that her covering for Nobody resulted in his private search for information about her missing children, Rachel accepts Nobody as a member of her family. Through Albert, Rachel learns that Braithwaite had a plantation called Bellevue that is not far from Georgetown. She also realizes that Nobody and Mary Grace are in love through their unspoken interactions. Reflecting on the night that she birthed Micah, Rachel states to Nobody and Mary Grace that she will go to Bellevue alone.

At Bellevue, Rachel meets Orion. She asks about Micah. Orion’s reactions to his name, namely the pain in his eyes, forces Rachel to accept that Micah is dead. Orion explains tearfully that Micah was executed after a Demerara rebellion. Wanting to know more about her son, Rachel sits next to Orion as he tells her of the man Micah had become.

The first and only time the novel switches narrative perspectives occurs in this chapter. Written in first person in Caribbean English, Orion recounts Micah from the day he arrived at Bellevue to the day he died. Orion recognizes Micah’s youth despite his height. Micah’s height leads his white enslaver to force him to work in spaces in which children would not normally work. Because of this realization, Orion’s primary goal is to “keep the softness” in Micah’s eyes (149)—his innocence. Although Micah eventually loses his childhood innocence due to enslavement, his friendliness toward others remains. He is also intelligent and thirsty for freedom.

In a chapel, Micah and other revolutionaries theorize on how they are going achieve liberation. They devise a plan to stop work at the plantations and demand their freedom from their enslavers. If the rebellion needs help, they plan to consult the Maroon Communities—the place where fugitives from slavery and their descendants are rumored to live in the forest.

Although idealistic, Micah’s certainty that freedom is within reach relieves Orion, who has suffered much due to slavery. When the day of the march occurs, the plan goes awry when members of the rebellion seek revenge. Bellevue’s enslaver is grabbed and locked in the stocks and the sugarcane fields are set on fire. Wanting to aid enslaved people on other plantations, Micah leaves to see what he and the others can do. When Micah returns, Orion learns that the other plantations did not revolt. He also notices that the rumored Maroons are nowhere in sight.

A young boy from the neighboring plantation, Bachelor’s Adventure, warns the enslaved people at Bellevue of an approaching colonial militia. The boy tells them that other plantations have surrendered without a fight to the militia, but the people at his plantation wanted to fight. Bellevue’s revolutionaries leave for Bachelor’s Adventure only to encounter the militia on the road. Because of their lack of adequate weaponry, the thousands-strong group cannot wrestle control from the soldiers. In the ensuing chaos, Micah and Orion flee back to Bellevue where they learn that Bellevue’s enslaver and his family have escaped. That night, Orion asks Micah if he regrets anything, to which the 16-year-old replies that he does not. The last words Micah says to Orion are, “Me did think it gon’ be different” (159).

When the soldiers arrive at Bellevue, Micah is accused of being one of the rebellion’s leaders. He’s executed. The chapter closes with Orion describing the malice with which Micah was regarded as a killer and not a child. The narrator interjects, between parentheses, about the way Orion mourns.

The narrative returns to Rachel’s perspective in the present. Orion accompanies Rachel on the road back to Georgetown. Rachel struggles to identify with the Micah in Orion’s recollection. This Micah reminds Rachel of the dreams that she had at Providence Plantation of living differently. The dreams terrified her because of the reality laid before her. Rachel does not mourn fully. She feels numb and disoriented.

After inquiring about Rachel’s other children, Orion tells Rachel that he heard of Thomas Augustus. Worried that she has lost another son, Orion explains to her that Thomas Augustus was at Felicity, a plantation close to Bellevue. Thomas Augustus was well known because he ran away from the plantation. While contemplating how Thomas Augustus ran away, Orion has a revelation. Thomas Augustus likely escaped via the Demerara River. During a day at the market, an Indigenous man talked to Orion about traversing the river. Rachel knows that to find Thomas Augustus, she has to travel up the Demerara.

On the outskirts of Georgetown, Orion and Rachel depart for good. Rachel struggles to let Orion go because he was one of the last people to have loved Micah. She accepts that she has to let Orion and the memories of her son rest because memories cannot undo death.

Back at the tavern, Rachel approaches Nobody and Mary Grace. She is unable to tell them what happened to Micah, although they understand. Through Mary Grace, Rachel grieves vicariously. She feels numb and hollow, unable to dream of him. When she wakes, she sees the shadows of Mercy, Cherry Jane, and Thomas Augustus. The idea that Micah no longer lives in her subconscious unnerves her to the point that she finally grieves.

Over the following days, Rachel, Nobody, and Mary Grace prepare to travel the Demerara. They make provisions and acquire a canoe. Needing someone who can help them navigate the river, Rachel searches for Nuno. Nuno agrees to accompany the group so that he can find survivors from his village.

Rachel confronts Beaumont, telling him that she is leaving Georgetown. Beaumont commands Rachel to stay. As if “slough[ing] off” old skin (175), Rachel affirms that she and the others are leaving and that Beaumont is powerless.

Rachel, Nobody, and Mary Grace leave Georgetown. While on the road, Rachel begs Nobody to not break her daughter’s heart since he loves the sea. Nobody reassures Rachel that he does not intend to leave. They find the Demerara River.

Once they find the Demerara River, Rachel reflects on her life so far. She now sees herself as a vessel for memories thanks to Orion and Mama B. Orion’s tale of the Micah she never knew shows her a way that Micah can still live. Thinking of the river and how it reflects family, she comes to understand the meaning of the connection between all things.

While on the river, the group encounter a caiman (a reptile). Nuno reveals more about his past such as the stories that his father told of the caiman’s harmlessness. Nuno tells Rachel that he knows that caimans are dangerous. Comforting Nuno, Rachel sees parallels between white men and caimans. She returns to thinking about Micah and her powerlessness in protecting him. She refuses to allow Thomas Augustus to be taken by the same force.

Further along the Demerara, Rachel begins to feel watched. Her feelings are validated once she hears a whistling sound. Nobody is shot by an arrow. Paddling for their lives, they try to force the boat to move faster until Nuno tells the archer in his native tongue to stop shooting. Although Rachel does not understand what Nuno is saying, she interprets the words through the way they feel.

An Indigenous man, woman, and baby are watching them from the tree line. The man lowers his arrow. Nuno asks the man (Quamina) and woman if they know where to find a self-liberated person camp. Nuno gets directions. The woman gives Nuno medicine for Nobody’s wounds. As the group departs, Rachel locks eyes with the woman.

Because the river becomes too shallow to paddle through, the group decides to walk on the river’s shore. When they find a place to make camp for the night, Quamina interrogates them. Rachel tells him about Thomas Augustus. Quamina recognizes his face in Rachel and takes them to the liberation settlement. Once she and Thomas Augustus see each other, they embrace. Their embrace causes Rachel to feel “the thousands of other threads, the collective weaving together of all lives” (200).

Reunited and relieved, Rachel learns more about Thomas Augustus’s life. Quamina welcomes Rachel, Mary Grace, Nobody, and Nuno formally into the settlement. He introduces his wife, Tituba. Around a fire, Rachel and Nobody recount their stories. Nuno reveals that the story about the caiman was personal. His sister was eaten by one, which caused his mother to enter into a deep despair. Because he and Tituba connect over a shared language, he grows attached to her. Filled with awe at the fact that they have all survived, Quamina sings a song full of “an ancestral memory that time and distance could not erase” (204). Mesmerized by Quamina’s song, Rachel reflects on the settlement. Unlike plantations, the settlement does not have the same hierarchical power structure. She understands that the place is a home for those who are lost. This understanding overwhelms her.

The following morning, Thomas Augustus teaches his mother how he survives in the forest. Rachel is reminded of Mama B. Rachel is curious to know her son’s story, and Thomas Augustus explains his escape. Like Rachel, he slipped out of the plantation at night and ran until he befriended an Indigenous man who told him where to find the settlement. Rachel sees similarities between Thomas Augustus and Nuno in their reticence. Thomas Augustus justifies his restraint in discussing the past because for him, the present is what matters the most. His views on freedom worry Rachel.

Over the weeks, Rachel adapts to living in the settlement. Mary Grace puts her seamstress skills to use by helping the settlement’s inhabitants mend their clothing. Thomas Augustus and Nobody build a hut for the family. Nuno’s closeness to Tituba and another Indigenous inhabitant, Kamu, grows. Rachel reflects on the village’s lack of children and the implicit ephemerality of the village. She has a reoccurring dream in which she is talking to Micah before he is stolen from her.

One day, Quamina asks Rachel if she is Akan. Rachel admits that she does not know because she did not know her parents. Quamina states that he sees Akan heritage in her. He explains that he can teach her the Akan language because it will help him to keep his memories alive. In exchange for his memories, Rachel tells Quamina about Mercy and Cherry Jane. Later, she asks Quamina if he ever thinks about returning to his homeland. Quamina admits that he is afraid to see what happened to it. For him, the settlement is his home.

The hut is completed. Because Mary Grace Is happy, Rachel asks her if she thinks that they should stay at the settlement. Rachel also notices that Mary Grace is in love with Nobody.

Rachel joins Tituba at the river to bathe. While bathing, Rachel’s eyes are drawn to the stretch marks on Tituba’s body. Tituba tells Rachel that she thinks that Rachel is not happy at the village. Rachel admits that she is having a difficult time adjusting to the village. Tituba agrees with the feeling although confesses that she cannot relate to the differences in their respective experiences. Tituba cannot relate to Rachel’s feelings, which are grounded in the loss of her freedom, family, and home. The women ponder the meaning of freedom, particularly the gap of what it should be versus what it is. As Rachel floats in the water, the question of what to do with her life returns. Initially afraid to look at Tituba’s naked body, which bears evidence of her having children, Rachel understands that she cannot stay at the village.

Rachel tells Nobody and Mary Grace that they have to leave the village. The pair agrees with her. Before leaving the village, Nobody and Mary Grace marry. Thomas Augustus marries the couple. While attending the ceremony, Rachel ponders the role that God and religion play in her life. Her views on these topics take a pantheistic tone: She believes that everything is connected. Quamina sings a song at the ceremony that invites his Akan heritage, Tituba’s Indigenous heritage, and Rachel’s into the fold. For the first time in years, Rachel feels truly at peace.

At night, Rachel and Thomas Augustus discuss her leaving for Trinidad. She asks Thomas Augustus to accompany her. Thomas Augustus declines. The pair argues about Rachel’s mission to recover her remaining missing children. As Thomas Augustus rages, Rachel realizes that his anger comes out of the way he sees freedom: It is about living in the moment. Thomas Augustus explains that he is afraid to lose her and Mary Grace again. Rachel asserts that he is not losing them—his memories of them will carry him forward. Soothed, Thomas Augustus accepts Rachel’s decision. By soothing him, Rachel knows that he will always be with her, too.

Rachel, Mary Grace, and Nobody return to Georgetown. Nuno decides to stay in the village now that he has found a new home. Despite the culture shock, Rachel is glad to be back at the Georgetown because of man-made bustle. Nobody finds work at a ship leaving for Trinidad. To be allowed on board, Mary Grace and Rachel work.