Kwasi's Quest

Kwasi's Quest

Bruce Von Stiers

I review a lot of horror films. But I don't review a lot of horror novels. I generally review thrillers, mysteries or human drama novels. Every so often, a horror novel will cross my desk.

One such novel is Queen Nanny & The White Witch of Rose Hall. It was written by Bobby Spears Jr. and published by Kingston Imperial.

The novel is about voodoo, dark European rituals and bloodthirsty people who turn others into something less than human.

Kwasi is a young man who is also a slave. He is in love with another slave, a young woman named Afua. The two of them are slaves at a plantation in Jamica. At a party at the plantation, Kwasi is severely beaten, and Afua comes under some kind of trance. This trance was initiated by the murmurings of a white woman. This woman had skin so white she could have been a porcelain doll.

It is being under that trance that Afua does some unspeakable acts on herself. And it seems that she would be the sex toy for both the men and women at the party. Kwasi can only watch, utterly dismayed at what is occurring.

Later, Kwasi can escape and finds himself among a group of former and runaway slaves. These slaves are led by a woman who is called Queen Nanny. She is known as the leader of the Jamaican Maroons. Kwasi wants to rescue Afua, but has she become so under the spell of the white woman, that she is no longer quite human?

For the rest of the novel, there is a plot to rescue Afua and other slaves at the plantation. Then there is an actual battle between the slaves and the people at the plantation and the creatures that they let loose on the former slaves.

This novel has some basis in fact. There was a Queen Nanny, who led the Jamaican Maroons. She was said to have supernatural powers, which enabled her to help the Maroons of eastern Jamica successfully battle the British military forces there.

The white woman I mentioned earlier is the White Witch from the novel's title. She is also based in fact. Annie Palmer was the wife of Rose Hall plantation owner, John Palmer. She supposedly murdered Palmer and two subsequent husbands, along with several male slaves. She in turn was murdered by a slave. Annie learned voodoo from a nanny who took care of her. As such, Annie was known to be a practitioner of black magic. Annie's spirit supposedly haunts Rose Hall, which still stands and is a historic house museum.

One interesting thing that I did find out about the histories of the two women is that they lived in different centuries. Queen Nanny lived in Jamica in the late 1600's. Palmer, on the other hand, lived in Jamica in the early 1800's.

Queen Nanny & The White Witch of Rose Hall is an interesting tale. It has danger, dark magic, debauchery, sadism and a few other things thrown in. The novel takes two distinct figures from the history of Jamica and puts them together for an entertaining story.

Queen Nanny & The White Witch of Rose Hall is available at major book retailers. To learn more, visit the Kingston Imperial website at www.kingstonimperial.com

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