Hell and High Water by Tanya Landman
Up until the day Pa is found guilty of a theft he didn’t commit and sentenced to transportation to the colonies in America, Caleb has spent his life travelling around southern England with his Pa. The only possessions they have are his father’s signet ring and a puppet theatre for popular, raunchy Punch and Judy shows. Caleb’s father sends him to the seashore from prison to locate an aunt that he was unaware he had. The only thing her neighbours can see of Caleb as he enters his aunt’s house is his black skin. Still, Caleb gradually settles into an odd routine in his new life until one morning when he discovers a body by the coast.
Hell and High Water by Tanya Landman
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After being at sea, the face is unrecognisable, but the signet ring is undeniably his—it can only be Caleb’s father. As the state and the church reject what Caleb knows, mystery heaps on the mystery. Tanya Landman, a multi-award-winning British author, has written a heartbreaking tale about race, class, family, and corruption so pervasive that it may murder.
A ginger youth stole a purse and threw it at Joseph as he ran, leading to Joseph being arrested and receiving a death sentence. After the Bishop spoke up for Joseph, the sentence was changed to deportation, and Caleb was instructed to go find J. Joseph Chappell was the son of an Earl and was famous for his Punch and Judy show. Caleb was brown and was frequently called his father’s slave.
When Caleb discovered his father’s body drowned and washed up on the beach, Sir Robert told him it was not his father, but Caleb knew it was because it had his father’s ring on. A lengthy struggle ensued as Caleb attempted to prove his father’s identity, and when he saw the body again, the finger with the ring was missing. Caleb was then press-ganged and marooned on an island. He had to escape so he could.
