Milton Keynes resident Magnus John has published a novel inspired by the true stories of men and women transported to West Africa following the abolition of slavery.
Mr John, aged 81, who was born in Sierra Leone, moved to the UK in 1959 and worked at the Open University for 28 years.
Freetown in Sierra Leone is where his and his compatriots’ ancestors were sent and it is their experiences which the novel deals with in graphic detail.
During his years in the Open University’s International Centre for Distance Learning, Magnus crossed the Atlantic frequently in the comparative comfort of a jet plane, a dramatic contrast to the tortured 18th and 19th century Atlantic crossings brought to life in his book, “ Breaks in the Circuit “.
Instead of putting his feet up in retirement, Magnus spent two years researching the experiences of the thousands of men and women who, freed from slavery, were sent to a country in Africa which was totally foreign to them. “Breaks in the Circuit” is the fruit of his research.
Magnus John said ‘A lot of attention has been paid in recent years to the fact that the prosperity of many of our major cities and institutions is based on the profits of slavery. I’ve taken a different approach and looked at the devastating effect of the slave trade on West African individuals and families’.
The launch of Magnus’s novel will take place in the local historic village of Grafton Regis. A very fitting location as it was for some years the home of one of the most successful English privateers, a slave merchant called George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland.
Will ghosts rise on Sunday 12th May when Magnus reads from his novel in the village hall??
Entry is free, drop in any time between 2pm and 6pm, refreshments available.
Copies of the book can be purchased from www.amazon.co.uk
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