"A Respectable Trade" by Philippa Gregory

A departure for Philippa Gregory, A RESPECTABLE TRADE takes the reader outside the royal courts of England’s monarchy to examine the slave trade of the 18^th century.

Josiah Cole and his sister Sarah operate a small trading company which trade in sugar, tobacco, rum, and slaves.  Josiah is hoping for the business to grow beyond its run of three ships (it’s impossible to compete with the bigger and faster Liverpool ships) but he knows nothing of how to break into the Merchant Venturers, who view him as an inferior.

When Francis Scott applies for the position of governess, Josiah initially turns her down, believing her to be, in effect, overqualified for the position.  As niece to Lord and Lady Scott, she is clearly a woman of standing who walks in different societal circles than himself.  Governess is too low a position.

But what of wife?

If Josiah were to make Francis his wife, rather than his governess to the slaves he wished to properly train, not only could she possibly instill them with a sense of propriety so as to sell them as servants, he could also gain access into the gentry of the Merchant Venturers. 

For Francis, as a woman in her mid-thirties, the prospects of having a husband with A RESPECTABLE TRADE were quickly running slim.  Therefore a marriage contract is formed.  Josiah would provide Francis with a means for making her own way in the world, as well as a proper house in which to reside; Francis would train the slaves and deliver the access he required for Cole & Sons to become something of significance in the world of 18^th century English trading circles.

Amongst the first group of slaves given to Francis to teach is an obalawa priest of the Yoruban kingdom named Mehuru.  He was, oddly enough, on a mission to persuade his own people to stop their involvement in the profitable slave trade when slavers captured him and sent him on the harrowing boat ride to England.  More accomplished an individual than the typical English slave; he learns quickly and thus draws the attention of Francis, a woman trying to make the best of her decision to marry Josiah Cole.

While Josiah pursues the growth of ‘Cole & Sons’, taking the risks that could either sink the business or elevate it beyond the grandeur of his dreams, Francis is growing to know Mehura.  Though a slave to her new household, he possesses an innate freedom she still is apparently pursuing. 

It is of this relationship that I did not buy.  The romance between the two was simply not believable.  This is not to say there was nothing of A RESPECTABLE TRADE I found engaging.  The perspective of slavery from the vantage point of England, rather than the U.S., offered a broader picture of the issue than I previously knew.

Here in the U.S., the standard conception is of slavery involves people being captured off the coast of Africa and transported directly back to the U.S. coast.  In England, as I understand it from the book, slavers captured people off the coast of Africa and then transported them to various islands in the Caribbean and the West Indies to work the sugar plantations, which was that era’s gold.  Only a portion of them actually reached England to be sold into households.

This is what, I believe, Josiah was looking to capitalize upon.  If he could turn this commodity into an array of personal servants, he could name his own price.  His problem, though, is his new wife, the woman he is depending upon to make that happen.  While not disapproving of slavery as a trade (Francis was no abolitionist), she possessed a conscience, and a heart, that saw them as people and not property.

If the story had held to this course, telling of the slave trade from the perspective of a small businessman simply trying to make his living (the typical slave master is shown in the appearance of Sir Charles, a repugnant plantation owner who does business in slaves with Josiah) and a new wife trying to make sense of things, I could write A RESPECTABLE TRADE is yet another gem from Philippa Gregory’s skilled pen.  The honest perspective they share – even utilizing the politically incorrect ‘n-word’ in harmless descriptive, rather than disparaging, terms – was compelling in typical Gregory fashion.  However the characters flatly two-dimensional.  They carry no vitality about them to make a reader care. 

I saw Josiah as a respectable man, but I really never knew if he ever loved Francis for who she was, or just for what access her status could deliver him.  Mehuru seemed too Westernized.  He came across as too familiar with the world, and that took away from the innate mentality of a foreign environment.  When he was captured as a slave, it seemed no different than if the slavers had sailed around to the coast of Spain and taken native Spaniards.  Francis – she wasn’t there.  I never found out who she was.  She was a good woman, but how was she any different than any other ‘good woman’ of those days? 

If the characters had sprung to life off the page, as is standard to any other Gregory work, and if the theme had revolved around slavery coming to an end in England, with the repercussions of that act in the lives of traders like Josiah Cole, I could add A RESPECTABLE TRADE into my lists of favorites.  Unfortunately, that failed to happen, so I have to say it is merely worth a look.