Throughout the tense, heart-wrenching plotting, Anderson continually addresses a host of Big Themes, e.g.: Can there be love where there is no freedom? Do scientists discover only what they expect to find? Will everyone abandon their integrity for the right price? A second volume will pick up Octavian's adventures as he flees to the British side with a renegade member of the College.In Thirsty, young adult novelist M. Octavian's narration (supplemented by fictional documentation), at first glance dense and somewhat arcane, nonetheless quickly draws readers into its almost musical flow, and the relentless action and plot turns are powerful motivators. The fortunes of Boston directly affect Octavian-from the smallpox inoculation "party" (deviously hosted so that slaves of the gentry can be kept under observation when rumors of uprising circulate) that claims his mother's life, to the slaves' faith in the British Army to offer them freedom in exchange for military service. The setting, Boston on the eve of the Revolution, is more than a piquant backdrop. Sharpe, who is bent on making the consortium's research profitable and on proving that Africans are a debased race.
The ensuing economic crisis forces Gitney to accept a new benefactor, Mr. Make no mistake though, they are slaves, and as Gitney's chattel they are the subjects of the College's studies into the mysterious nature of "Homo Afri." Through minute observation of every observable aspect of his subject's lives, Gitney hopes to establish that Africans are as fully human as Caucasians, but the scope of the consortium's research takes a malicious turn when hostilities escalate between the British and Patriots.
Gitney, a member of a consortium of science enthusiasts (the Novanglian College of Lucidity), affords them a life of astonishing privilege and comfort Cassiopeia is celebrated for her beauty and acts as hostess at his soirees, and Octavian is given a classical education that would be the envy of well-to-do white children. West African princess Cassiopeia, pregnant and enslaved at fourteen, was brought to the American colonies, where she resides with her son, Octavian (our narrator), in the house of Mr.
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