Inspired by a historical figure, an exhilarating debut novel about the first native of the Indian subcontinent to arrive in Colonial America—for readers of Esi Edugyan and Yaa Gyasi.

Meet Tony: insatiably curious, deeply compassionate, with a unique perspective on every scene he encounters. Kidnapped and transported to the New World after traveling from the British East India Company’s outpost on the Coromandel Coast to the teeming streets of London, young Tony finds himself in Jamestown, Virginia, where he and his fellow indentured servants—boys like himself, men from Africa, a mad woman from London—must work the tobacco plantations. Orphaned and afraid, Tony initially longs for home. But as he adjusts to his new environment, finding companionship and even love, he can envision a life for himself after servitude. His dream: to become a medicine man, or a physician’s assistant, an expert on roots and herbs, a dispenser of healing compounds.

Like the play that captivates him—Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream—Tony’s life is rich with oddities and hijinks, humor and tragedy. Set during the early days of English colonization in Jamestown, before servitude calcified into racialized slavery, The East Indian gives authentic voice to an otherwise unknown historic figure and brings the world he would have encountered to vivid life. In this coming-of-age tale, narrated by a most memorable literary rascal, Charry conjures a young character sure to be beloved by readers for years to come.

My Review

This was a wonderfully written story, but hardly a laugh a minute. Life was very hard in the 1600s and it was especially hard for ‘Tony’, the first East Indian to arrive in Jamestown, Virginia.

We start the story in the British East India Company’s outpost on the Coromandel Coast. Tony (that wasn’t his real name – it was given to him later) lives with his mother and uncle. His mother is a courtesan (that’s a high class prostitute to you and me) and exceptionally beautiful (though this may be seen through a child’s eyes). When she dies, Tony travels to London where he wants to become a medicine man. But he is kidnapped and transported to America, where he ends up an indentured servant. On the journey he befriends two other boys, Dick and Sammy, and also ‘Mad Marge’, a ‘lunatic’ as she was referred to in those days.

Once he begins his work on the tobacco plantation, he meets other servants like Bristol and Cuffee from Africa, and Flynn who wants to learn to speak the language of the Native American ‘Indians’ as they were known – many of his fellow workers believe Tony must be one of them – so he can go and live with them. In fact no-one knows where Tony comes from – he’s not dark enough to be African, he’s not a Turk, though he is often referred to as a ‘moor’, and East India was so far unheard of.

The boys’ master initially is a man called Ganter, whose treatment of nine-year-old Sammy is so awful, I won’t describe it here – in fact we never get the details, we just know.

Tony is a likeable character, who sympathises with the plight of the underdog, and is saddened by the ill-treatment of his fellow servants, this is ‘before servitude calcified into racialized slavery‘. His dream is still to become a medicine man and he slowly begins to learn as a physician’s assistant, but we know that he will never be fully accepted unless he is working alongside his mentor. It was interesting to note that sick people were often given ‘Jimson Weed’ to cure their ills. Otherwise known as Datura, it is highly toxic, addictive and kills in large quantities. It grows here in the UK – don’t touch or ingest it!

This is an amazing, well-researched tale of love, hope and coming-of-age. I adore the references to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Tony talks constantly about the Fairy King and Queen’s feud over the Indian boy, saying that he never discovers what becomes of him. But he actually likens himself more to Puck, getting up to mischief and playing tricks.

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read. 

About the Author

BRINDA CHARRY is an academic who specialises in the work of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. She has a special interest in race and intercultural encounters in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and has published several books and articles in the field. Her novels and short stories, published in India, have won several awards. Born and raised in Bangalore, Brinda now lives in New Hampshire, USA.