Ice King by Geoff Woodland

Review by Tracy Falbe

Fancy houses rise in Liverpool, England from the profits of slave trading between Africa and the plantations of the West Indies. Empires fight wars for control of the seas that connect sugar plantations, industrialists, and the brutally exploited human capital of West Africa. Amid this dark and dynamic global business, William King is ready to make a man of himself in 1804. His father George King runs a modestly successful shipping company where William is employed as a first mate. The Ice King opens with William telling his father he wants a captaincy. George refuses and William rebelliously accepts a commission with the British Navy.

During a war with Napoleonic France, William serves blockade duty off the French coast and then commands a vessel taking dispatches to South Africa. His many sea voyages both as a merchant and a military officer have exposed him to the horrors of slave transport, and William is morally against it.

After the war, when William is trying to decide his next career move, he becomes involved with abolitionists as he travels to reunite with his father after years of absence. William finds that his father George has become much more successful. George's new partnership with the powerful Liverpool businessman Donald Nicholson has made George wealthy, but the wealth is all derived from the Slave Trade.

Disapproving, William rejects rejoining his father's shipping company and instead captains a ship backed by the abolitionists. His mission is to prove that trans-Atlantic trading can be profitable without transporting slaves or trading in commodities produced by slaves. This challenge and William's seafaring and commercial adventures between Boston, Jamaica, and Cuba drive the majority of the novel. About halfway through the novel, its title of Ice King becomes clear, but I will not give it away because it is clever and interesting.

In his novel Geoff Woodland displays the sweeping scope of his historical research. Details large and small pack every page of the Ice King as William calls on ports in Liverpool, Boston, Kingstown, and Havana. Each city is summoned in the imagination with vivid details. The stench of Liverpool sewage and its sooty air are constant. The hot sunny diversity of Kingstown blossoms with fruity tropical abundance while always showing the dark underbelly of its slave culture. The mangrove swamps, fortifications, and warehouses of Havana set the scene for a daring slave rescue. The bustling enthusiasm of Boston illustrates the excitement of the young United States.

Woodland employs this broad global landscape with unflagging competence. No place is glossed over. Every setting is carefully developed. The author writes with concrete uncluttered prose that is never flowery but always evocative, and he handles the economic themes of the seafaring commercial empires with great understanding. The sugar produced in the slave plantations is the sweet vice driving the abominable abuse of human capital. A quote from an abolitionist character in the novel explains the problem:

"It is out of sight and therefore out of mind for many people. They want their sugar, but they do not think of the pain and damage inflicted on their fellow human beings to obtain it at a price they are willing to pay."

Even over two hundred years later this sentiment can be applied to many global commodities, and most people still prefer to not think about it.

Woodland's portrayal of human exploitation is not limited to slavery. He mentions how mills in Manchester, England advertised cheaply in Ireland to lure an over abundance of laborers, many of them women, to England. Some women were then easily diverted into Liverpool brothels.

The dreary realities of economic history are only the bones not the soul of this novel. Powerful emotional forces influence the characters. William has a love interest with the capable and shrewd Ruth, daughter of his Boston business partner Abraham. Their romantic relationship is strong but often challenged by their individual desires to run their own companies. George and William have a complicated father-son relationship. William very much serves as a morally redemptive figure when compared to his slave-trading father, who is easily manipulated by Donald Nicholson. And Donald Nicholson embodies the evils of purely reptilian capitalism that has no regard for anything except profit. The reprehensible nature of Donald is further illuminated by the characters of his son, Henry, and daughter, Charlotte. Both are detestable human beings. Henry constantly hungers for sadistic sex with prostitutes, and Charlotte is so irredeemable that when George strikes her across the face, she firmly deserves it.

Many nice touches enliven this engrossing novel that never has one draggy dull moment. The side characters of William's Chinese steward Sang and Paris, the Kingstown coffee house proprietor, add depth and diversity to the story. And the concept of capitalism is also a central character of this novel that nicely portrays how this economic philosophy has shaped the world. Capitalism is seen in both good and bad lights. The commercial successes William achieves as he follows his moral compass act as an inspiring foil to the winning-is-all worship of the brutal commercial status quo presented by Donald and Henry Nicholson.

The Ice King will fill readers' sails with the strong wind of an enlightening historical adventure set on the high seas. The novel presents a tightly written narrative that constantly urged me to read the next page. I was honestly caught up with worry about William until the final paragraph.

Onaedo: The Blacksmith's Daughter by Ngozi Achebe

Maxine is a modern woman who will soon be reunited with her Nigerian father after a 30 year absence. Coincidentally, through an old friend, she discovers a box of ancient hand-written journals. She becomes intrigued when she discovered they were written over 400 years ago from a young woman in the same tribe as that of her father. As she reads the diaries, she finds herself drawn to the poignant tale that sweeps her into 16th century Africa to the roots of the slave trade.

The journal is that of a 15 year old girl, on the verge of womanhood, named Onaedo. Onaedo leads an idyllic life where she experiences first love, marriage, motherhood, and lives in relative peace with her family and friends. Her father is a talented blacksmith, renowned for his intricate work who wants her to marry an eligible man of equal wealth. Her kind, elder brother, Udemezue, escorts Onaedo and her best friend Adanma to a gathering. There, Onaeda meets her secret love, Dualo, a poor young man considered unsuitable to be her husband. Later, when Onaedo learns that Dualo has suddenly left town without word of his return, she reluctantly marries Amechi, a man who ultimately disappoints her.

But Onadeo makes the most of her unhappy marriage, until one day when Portuguese men pluck her from the land and abduct her.  She is placed on a slave shift and taken to Sao Tome where she is thrust into slavery.  But good fortune smiles upon her and she encounters a kind slave master and works as a servant inside the manor.

The novel is a gentle read, easy to escape into and relish its vibrant descriptions. Because the author, Dr. Ngozi Achebe’s roots are in Nigeria, her passion for the country and its history became evident on every page. As I read, I could not help but become enthralled with Onaedo whose adolescent life mirrors our own, but also differs because of fascinating cultural differences. There are strong, endearing characters, onerous villains, and plenty of ancient superstitions and beliefs that weave through this rich tale. But above all, this is the story of a humble, but wise, young woman who must endure incredible loss, who bravely faces an uncertain future and endures slavery in order to survive. The tale also encompasses the loss of the family and clearly depicts their pain as they search for their stolen loved ones.

I truly enjoyed reading this novel because of its unique setting and because it exposed me to a an old culture I knew little about. And that is the essence of what a good historical novels should do! The story ended soon after Onaeda became a slave, far too soon for me, and it left me longing to read on. However, I suspect that there will be a sequel which will continue Onaeda’s story, and I eagerly anticipate its release. Dr. Acebe has created a memorable, true to life, female heroine who defines innocence and courage and brings to life a colourful, but shameful era of history.  A very well written, endearing story.