Caryl Phillips Crossing The River Summary -

The novel is structured around a brief prologue and epilogue voiced by an unnamed, mythic African father. In a desperate year of failing crops, this father commits the ultimate betrayal: he sells his three children——to a European slave trader named Captain James Hamilton.

Travis is part of a segregated U.S. Army unit stationed in England. He is intelligent, restless, and deeply angry at the racism he faces both from white American soldiers and the local English population. He strikes up a friendship with Greer, a farmer who is initially sympathetic but becomes increasingly uncomfortable with Travis’s bitterness. caryl phillips crossing the river summary

The final letter reveals Nash’s complete unraveling. He abandons his mission, leaves his wife and child, and is last seen heading into the interior, seeking a gold mine he has heard rumors about. He is never heard from again. Edward Williams ultimately concludes that Nash has “gone native” and reverted to barbarism. The novel is structured around a brief prologue