When Conchi Blows

Jamaica, 1831. Two fifteen year olds, Neddy, a freeborn black and Watt, a white English bookkeeper, practically a bond slave on his plantation, find their friendship with each other and with Newman Hall plantation overseer Galloway, serving his own kind of bondage, is about to be put to the ultimate test.

A post Christmas strike led by the charismatic slave preacher, Sam Sharpe, turns into a violent rebellion. Neddy and Galloway find their fates further entwined as they rescue their seriously wounded friend, Watt who had become a leader in his plantation's slave uprising.

But the situation is even more dire at Neddy's home on the Kensington estate. His father has been murdered leaving his mother catatonic. There is chaos too at the burnt-out Lapland property where the owner's granddaughter and her nurse are missing. Neddy quickly sets off to find them and winds up providing them safe passage to Montego Bay.

When order is finally restored, however, Neddy, Watt and Galloway face the difficult choice of staying and rebuilding Jamaica, or leaving it forever.

A fascinatingly accurate portrayal of what most agree was the final nail in the coffin of slavery in Jamaica, Omar Sheriffe Vernon el Halawani's posthumous novel based on the Christmas Rebellion is an extraordinary coming of age tale whose resonance to the social unrest of today cannot be overstated. Inspired by his own family's history, When Conchi Blows will make you re-examine stereotypes and discover new truths about freedom and self-determination.

Cover Image is a painting IMP by famous Jamaican artist Judy Ann MacMillan, who kindly granted permission for its use. She was a close friend of the author. It was chosen as the painting mirrors the image of Neddy, the central character in the novel.