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This novelist asks: what are the limits of freedom?

caption: In order to escape a Barbadian plantation, Washington Black takes flight in an untested hot air balloon.
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In order to escape a Barbadian plantation, Washington Black takes flight in an untested hot air balloon.

Away from Barbados in a hot air balloon, a protagonist learns that he can't outrun himself forever.

In today's segment:

Washington Black by Esi Edugyan, September 19th 2018

In Esi Edugyan's new novel, Washington Black, the title character has a steampunk escape from a Barbados plantation, soaring to freedom in an untested hot air balloon. But what Washington learns in the rest of the novel, says Edugyan, is that there's all the difference in the world between freedom from bondage and freedom from human bonds.

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