The Boy who Spat in Sargrenti's Eye
by Manu Herbstein
Description
On 13 June 1873 British forces bombarded Elmina town in the Gold Coast (now Ghana) and destroyed it. To this day it has not been rebuilt. Later that same year, using seaborne artillery, the British flattened ten coastal towns and villages – including Axim, Takoradi and Sekondi. On 6th February, 1874, after looting the Asantehene’s palace in Kumase, British troops blew up the stone building and set the city on fire, razing it to the ground.
15-year old Kofi Gyan witnesses these events and records them in his diary. This novel, first published soon after the 140th anniversary of the sack of Kumase, tells his story.
Several historical characters feature in the novel: the Asantehene Kofi Karikari, the war correspondents Henry Morton Stanley and G. A. Henty and the war artist of the Illustrated London News, Melton Prior, who employs Kofi as his assistant.
The novel is illustrated with 70 black and white images, mainly from the Illustrated London News of 1873 and 1874
The image on the front cover is of a solid gold mask looted from the Asantehene’s palace. It now resides in the vaults of the Wallace Collection in London.
The Boy who Spat in Sargrenti’s Eye is one of three winners of the 2013 Burt Award for African Literature in Ghana.
The Burt Award for African Literature recognises excellence in young adult fiction from African countries. It supports the writing and publication of high quality, culturally relevant books and ensures their distribution to schools and libraries to help develop young people’s literacy skills and foster their love of reading. The Burt Award is generously sponsored by the Canadian philanthropist, Bill Burt, and is part of the ongoing literacy programmes of the Ghana Book Trust and of CODE, a Canadian NGO which has been supporting development through education for over 50 years.
The Burt Award includes the guaranteed purchase of 3000 copies of the winning books for free distribution to secondary school libraries.
More Information
Rights Information
Techmate has Ghana print rights. All other rights are available.
Marketing Information
The £25,000 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction is open to entries from the Commonwealth. To qualify for the 2015 prize, books must have been published before the end of 2014, with entries submitted by 31 January 2015. “The judges’ criteria include originality and innovation, quality of writing, and potential durability… books must inhabit the past and enrich our historical understanding, at the same time as changing our perspective on the present.”
My publisher in Ghana, Techmate, will enter the novel for this prize.
I have examined Wikipedia’s lists of Novels about Imperialism, Novels set in Colonial Africa, War novels and other lists (including http://www.historicalnovels.info/Africa.html#ElAf ). I am hard put to suggest any work which bears close comparison this novel. Perhaps Ayi Kwei Armah’s The Healers; or perhaps it is, as Prof. Kwesi Prah suggests, one of a kind.
The potential market for the novel might include
(1) general readers of historical fiction, both adult and young adult (http://historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews );
2) University departments, worldwide, devoted to the study and teaching of African history, African literature and general African studies, of imperialism and of war; and
(3) groups of readers interested in the Europeans who play a part in the novel: G. A. Henty (www.hentysociety.org); H. M. Stanley (http://hmstanley.com); Melton Prior (www.meltonpriorinstitut.org); Sir Garnet Wolseley (http://www.nam.ac.uk/exhibitions/online-exhibitions/britains-greatest-general/garnet-wolseley) and the Victorian Wars Forum (http://www.victorianwars.com/viewforum.php?f=59&sid=baf831f2c5a22ff4e45a6e03371f4e55 ) amongst others.
Bibliographic Information
- Publisher Techmate Publishers Ltd., P O Box 6667, Accra North, Ghana
- Publication Date September 2014
- Orginal LanguageEnglish
- ISBN/Identifier 9789988191849
- Publication Country or regionGhana
- FormatPaperback
- Primary Price 25 GHC
- Pages248
- ReadershipTeenage/Young Adult
- Publish StatusPublished
- ResponsibilityManu Herbstein, author
- Dimensions210 x 148 mm
- Illustration70 black and white illustrations