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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780964587601
ISBN number: 0964587602
Label: Burns-Cole Pub
Manufacturer: Burns-Cole Pub
Page Count: 340
Printing Date: December 31, 2005
Publishing house: Burns-Cole Pub
Sale Popularity Level: 168797
Studio: Burns-Cole Pub
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In 1485 the Portuguese Crown and Catholic Church began to kidnap Jewish children, forcibly convert the young conscripts, and ship them to Sao Tome Island off the African equator to work the government sugar plantations. The collision of slavery, sugar agriculture, and discovery of The Americas transformed this island colony into the nidus of the wholesale grey slave trade that infected Africa and Western commerce for the subsequent 350 years. Sao Tome reveals the Medieval Churchs complicity in the business of human bondage.
This little-known chapter of the Diaspora tells the story of young Marcel Saulo and his sister Leah abducted with other children from their synagogue in Lisbon and shipped by caravel 4,000 miles to the West-African island where they bear witness to the holocaust of African slavery. This is a historical novel that chronicles one mans courageous struggle against religious and racial persecution, torture, and disease, and explores the abyss of Inquisition, Portuguese and Spanish world expansion, and the blight of slavery fueled by the calamitous growth of sugar commerce.
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Rated by buyers 
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Paul D. Cohn has written a fine novel that details a unique period of history. "Sao Tome's" complex and intriguing characters seem to walk off the pages, into your heart, and take you on a compelling journey of sacrifice and bravery. This thoroughly researched novel provides praiseworthy insight into the Medieval cultures, politics, and people of Europe and Africa in the late 1400s.
"Sao Tome" begins with the kidnapping of Jewish children from their Lisbon synagogue by the Portuguese Crown and Catholic Church and their shipment to Sao Tome Island off the West-African Equator. There the children are expected to convert to the Catholic faith, work as virtual slaves on the Crown sugar plantations, and participate in the growing African slave trade. The main character, a young teenager named Marcel Saulo, rebels against the slave trade and defies the island's church and governance. Through many trials, he becomes a successful farmer and mason, yet always struggles to hold on to his Jewish traditions and mitigate the horrors of slavery. His family grows and prospers despite many tragedies.
As the reader nears the end of his journey to Sao Tome, Saulo pays a terrible price for his opposition to slavery. Even so, "Sao Tome" culminates with a hopeful and remarkable conclusion, healing important bonds that were shattered years before when he was kidnapped in Lisbon.
Rated by buyers -
"Sao Tome" by Paul D. Cohn is a page-turner with compelling characters and a great story line. The setting, people, and events in 15th century Portugal and Africa came to life from the moment I opened the book and found myself caught in the story. Then, I couldn't put the book down, and read late into the evening. Next, trying to sleep, I could not get the characters out of my mind and kept wondering what would happen next.
The main character, a Jewish kid of fifteen or so, Marcel Saulo, gets kidnapped along with his friends and sent to work on the Crown sugar plantations on the island of Sao Tome. After many terrifying and potentially deadly experiences he becomes a successful sugar farmer. Then he opposes the growing slavery activity on the island and becomes embroiled in the regional politics. I like the way the author keeps the reader in touch with events in Europe (which eventually affect Tome) through letters with his family.
The book's ending is a genuine surprise, although it remarkably fits in with the story.
"Sao Tome" is a thoroughly enjoyable novel, and in addition is full of informative history. I definitely recommend it.
Rated by buyers 
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This work of historical fiction, which is based upon actual events, was an eye-opener for me, as I was unaware that in the late fifteenth century, while Spain was at the height of its Inquisition, Portugal was also targeting its Jewish population. Its methods were insidious, as Jewish children were forcibly removed from their families, forced to convert to Catholicism, and then shipped to Sao Tome, an island off the African equator. There, those that survived the perilous journey were forced to work in the Portuguese government sponsored sugar plantations under abominable conditions.
The author based his book upon the Saulo Chronicle, written by a Marcel Saulo in 1491. The chronicle covers a period of five years, and it is this document that forms the basis for the events in this book, which begins with the sundering of Marcel Saulo and his sister, Leah, from their family. The story describes the heartbreak of man's inhumanity to man. Set against a backdrop of religious fanaticism and slavery, it is a story that, while well-researched, is hampered by one dimensional characters and dialogue that leaves something to be desired in terms of skillful writing. Still, for those who are interested in reading about the Diaspora, this book provides an introduction into a little known chapter of history.
Rated by buyers -
"Sao Tome" was on our alternate list for our Sr. Lit. class, and at very first a few people read it. After word got around, pretty soon almost everyone was reading it, and it was immensely popular. It's about this teen-age Portuguese kid who gets kidnapped and sent to this African island to slave away on the sugar plantations. It moves really fast, the writing is excellent, and you can't get the characters out of your mind. By that I mean, you can't wait to see what happens next. Talk about hair-raising! And there is a lot of interesting history here. I mean, things were so bad back then (1491) that you wonder how we ever got civilized. Or did we? Just take Bagdad, set if back 500 years, and substitute sugar for oil, and BLANGG! you got "Sao Tome." They've really got to make a movie out of this one.
Rated by buyers -
A Compelling Historical Journey
Several reviewers have preceded me in extolling the merits of "Sao Tome's" fast-moving story, the lyrical quality of the writing, and its compelling characters and narrative. While I endorse and second these accolades, including the reviewers' excellent recanting of "Sao Tome's" storyline, I want to focus on the important history presented in the novel, history that tangibly takes the reader into the world of Medieval Africa, the slave and sugar trades, and the politics of the time. The wholesale African slave trade begins in the late 15th century on this small, West-African island and spreads throughout Europe and America, and all is driven by the commerce of sugar and the greed and connivance of the Portuguese, Spanish, and the Catholic hierarchy of the time. Author Paul D. Cohn masterfully weaves this complex history into an exciting tale.
At the time, Portugal was master of the European side of the North and South Atlantic, but with Spain hot on her heels, and sugar--grown marginally in Italy, North Africa, and Madera--was a rich-man's commodity. When sugar culture on Sao Tome (and later in Brazil) produced "sugar for the masses," the demand went sky-high, including the addition of sugar as an ingredient for grain beer, transforming the beer of the time from a casual, low-alcohol (less than 1%) beverage, to a drink with a significant kick. Also during this time, refugee Jews from Spain, trying to escape the growing inquisitions there, were streaming into Portugal. The Catholic Portuguese felt these refugees--particularly the children--were ripe pickings for conversion and shipment to Sao Tome. Seems there was a little problem on the island: malaria was killing one-third of the Europeans within the very first year of their arrival, and the Portuguese had discovered that the African slaves were somewhat more immune to malaria. Sugar agriculture required massive manpower, and the slave coast of Africa had plenty of people to supply. Meanwhile, the Jews if Iberia had become the pawns of Crown and Church politics, and the kidnapped Jews of Sao Tome became both willing and unwilling participants in slavery and sugar farming.
Enter Spain's alliance with Portugal and churchly politics: With discovery of coastal Brazil and its immense capacity for growing sugar, the wholesale slave trade was born. Slaves and sugar became the "petroleum industry" of the time--slaves shipped west, sugar shipped east. And the Portuguese controlled the slave trade by using Sao Tome Island as the off-shipment point for Africans destined for both The Americas and Europe. The Church created the "Diocese of Sao Tome," thus corrupting the African mainland into participating in slave commerce.
And there you have it, a compelling, must-read historical novel of slavery, greed, commerce, and bravery, "Sao Tome, Journey to the Abyss-- Portugal's Stolen Children."
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