The End of the World and Beyond

November 15, 2018
Twelve-year-old convicted felon Oliver is transported to the American Colonies to avoid the hangman's noose, but he finds his situation as an enslaved felon there is nearly as deadly in this sequel to The Unexpected Life of Oliver Cromwell Pitts (2017).In London in the early 18th century, children and adults alike face harsh punishment for minor crimes. Rather than face death, many are offered a term of servitude in the New World. Those who can survive the trans-Atlantic crossing, with its cramped spaces, filthy conditions, and sparse rations, face harsh treatment at the hands of ruthless masters. In Maryland, Oliver is purchased by a cruel man who refuses him even basic necessities. Once on the plantation, Oliver meets Bara, an enslaved boy from Guinea, who teaches him to cultivate tobacco and how to avoid dying at the hands of their master. While freedom is always at the forefront of Oliver's mind, he also longs to reunite with his sister, Charity, also sold into servitude. Told in appropriately 18th-century diction, Oliver's picaresque is a harrowing page-turner that takes an unflinching look at what life was like for those living in servitude in the American Colonies. Oliver is quietly heroic but also realistic as he endures his fate. African Bara, though seen through white Oliver's eyes, is given trope-defying agency, his intelligence and superior knowledge of the territory and customs putting him in the lead but never at Oliver's service. Brief backmatter gives historical context to this sequel.Action-packed and inspirational--another stunner. (Historical fiction. 8-12)

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Starred review from November 1, 2018
Grades 5-8 *Starred Review* No, it's not the end of the world, though it might be the end of Oliver Cromwell Pitts, the plucky protagonist of Avi's earlier novel The Unexpected Life of Oliver Cromwell Pitts (2017), who returns in this splendid sequel. The year is 1725, and 12-year-old Oliver, a convicted felon, is being transported to the Colonies, where he will be sold into de facto slavery, which means seven years of forced labor. Sure enough, he is bought by a vile man named Fitzhugh, who takes Oliver to slave in his tobacco fields. There he meets Fitzhugh's true slave, a boy only slightly older than Oliver named Bara. The two boys bond and plot their escape from their odious master. Their careful plans are dashed by unfortunate circumstances, and they must flee for their lives into a nearby swamp. Can they survive its dangers and find their freedom? Time?and Avi?will tell. Though darker than its predecessor, this sequel is equally fine. The plotting is altogether laudable, the setting beautifully realized, and the characters highly empathetic. Especially good is the voice Avi has conjured for Oliver, just antique enough to evoke eighteenth-century diction and syntax. One thing is certain: Avi may call this the end of the world, but there is no end to the pleasure his latest evokes.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)