Caryl Phillips’ intense historical fiction addresses slavery’s shattering of the lives of Black people through the story of one father’s lost family.

In desperate financial straits, a father sells his three children into slavery. Crossing the River follows the scattered children across continents and through time to wherever their lives lead them: the hold of a slave ship, an African mission, Colorado, and an English village during the war.

Shortlisted
The Booker Prize 1993
Published by
Bloomsbury
Publication date
Caryl Phillips

Caryl Phillips

About the Author

Caryl Phillips is the author of several acclaimed works of fiction and non-fiction, including Crossing the River, shortlisted for the 1993 Booker Prize.
More about Caryl Phillips

Other nominated books by Caryl Phillips

A Distant Shore