The Unfree

Janne Lundström

Saint Barthélemy is a paradise.
That’s how my father had described the island in his letter.
But it was a lie.
Already the brig that brought me there was a lie.

The year is 1790 and fifteen-year-old Matilda sets foot on the Caribbean island of St. Barthélemy – a Swedish colony. After her mother’s death she is sent to live with her father, a merchant, whom she’s only met once. His housekeeper Beatrijs and her two twin sons: Witte Willem and Swarte Pieter (identical except for a slight difference in skin colour) live with him. Matilda soon realizes that the three of them are slaves and she is appalled by how her father treats them, and especially how differently he treats Willem and Pieter.
Desperately, Matilda tries to arrange for the twins to be freed, but her father will only meet her half way: Willem becomes a free man, Pieter does not. Matilda feels she needs to intervene and she soon comes up with a plan. A plan that puts her own safety at risk.

De ofria/The Unfree is a story of courage, but also about friendship and love under the brutal conditions of colonialism. Janne Lundström combines fiction with historical events, and the result is a rich, brutal and enthralling story to be remembered.