This took me awhile to finish. It starts off kind of slow before it gets interesting. ( )

At the end of the Anglo-American War of 1812-1814 each side held prisoners of war. In England several thousand American sailors were held in Dartmoor prison. Conditions were overcrowded and basic. The English soldiers guarding these men were few and barely kept control. Inside the compound the prisoners self-segregated into white and black (mainly ex-slaves). As diplomatic negotiations regarding repatriation staggered on the mood in the prison quickly escalated to volcanic levels.

This is the background historical scene for Mayo’s book. New inmates, the last to be brought to the prison, try to integrate into the closed society of Dartmoor. To relieve the boredom a production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is planned and staged. This becomes the backdrop for examining racial tensions between the prisoners and the catalyst for an attempted escape.

This is set in the 19th century, but written in the 21st, so to meet de facto rules regarding publication key characters are homosexual and all white characters are intellectually, physically and morally inferior to all non-white characters.

The daily life of the prison is covered well and we are, of course, surprised that generally poorly educated sailors know Shakespeare and can easily memorise the play and discuss its structure and deeper meaning. We forget that in the time before technology, shortened attention spans and shallow intellects ordinary people did have powerful memories and thought deeply about ideas.

In general, the English characters are thinly drawn and the affair between the doctor and the Governor’s wife seems irrelevant to the whole story. ( )

As the author's first 'adult' book (meaning a book for adults, no porn, from an author of 'books for children), I thoroughly enjoyed and was easily captured. ( )

I was given a copy of this book through a booksite giveaway, with no obligation to review.
Dartmoor Prison in Devon is a place I didn't know about before this book, and I certainly didn't know about the American prisoners kept there when the War of 1812 was over, but the prisoners not released. So, although fictionalized, this is a story based in fact. Pretty interesting facts.

The characters were brought to life for me, and I was delighted at the end of the book to learn which are based on real people. King Dick, an enormous black man, is a leader, a bully, a protection, and quite fascinating. And, unlike the ships the prisoners sailed, the prison is segregated. It's no surprise that things so awry. Also no surprise that there is murder and general mayhem.

The writing is straightforward, nothing fancy, no purple prose. Although the book describes how the prison is laid out, it occasionally got confusing for me, so the map at the beginning of the book was helpful.

The segregated black prison, in the middle of the other six, puts on Shakespearean plays, but none before quite like Romeo and Juliet. This book is more enjoyable if you are familiar with the story of Romeo and Juliet, because there are lots of similarities and references to the play, but even if you aren't familiar, this is an interesting and entertaining piece of historical fiction in its own right. ( )