Busha's Mistress or Catherine the Fugitive: A stirring Romance of the Days of Slavery

"Recovered from the archives is Cyrus Francis Perkins' novel entitled Busha's Mistress or Catherine the Fugitive: A Stirring Romance of the Days of Slavery in Jamaica which was written in the mid-1800s and published in Jamaica in 1911 as a series of instalments in the local newspapers, the Daily Telegraph and the Jamaica Guardian. Cyrus Francis Perkins, a white Jamaican (of Canadian descent), lived through the period of Jamaica's history during which the colony was undergoing the transition from slavery to emancipation. The resulting story is, thus, rich in historically insightful details which bring that era to life and which make the book a valuable resource for scholars of Caribbean history. Revealed here are interesting tit-bits about the relationship between slave and master, the daily life on the sugar plantations, the business transactions involved, the depiction of the culture of the African slaves, the Maroon resistance and varied perspectives on the abolition of slavery. "