"This historical fiction with a twist has an intriguing plot that will
make the reader ask how the world could be different."
**--Booklist
**
**
A revolutionary tale of Black and Indigenous insurrection. History as it
should have been.**
Begin the World Over is a counterfactual novel about the Founders'
greatest fear--that Black and Indigenous people might join forces to
undo the newly formed United States of America--coming true.
In 1793, as revolutionaries in the West Indies take up arms, James
Hemings has little interest in joining the fight for liberté--talented
and favored, he is careful to protect his relative comforts as Thomas
Jefferson's enslaved chef. But when he meets Denmark Vesey, James is
immediately smitten. The formidable first mate persuades James to board
his ship, on its way to the revolt in Saint-Domingue. There and on the
mainland they join forces with a diverse cast of characters, including a
gender nonconforming prophetess, a formerly enslaved jockey, and a
Muskogee horse trader. The resulting adventure masterfully mixes real
historical figures and events with a riotous retelling of a possible
history in which James must decide whether to return to his constrained
but composed former life, or join the coalition of Black revolutionaries
and Muskogee resistance to fight the American slavers and settlers.
