Joseph Knight

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A gripping tale of history, enlightenment, and slavery unfolds as Sir John Wedderburn, exiled to Jamaica after the 1746 Battle of Culloden, amasses wealth as a faux surgeon and sugar planter with his brothers. In the 1770s, he returns to Scotland to marry and restore his family name, bringing along Joseph Knight, a black slave and remnant of his Caribbean years. By 1802, as Wedderburn settles his estate, he hires solicitor's agent Archibald Jamieson to locate Knight, who has haunted him since their last encounter in a pivotal court case twenty-four years prior. This case exposed deep societal divides—master versus slave, white versus black, rich versus poor. Wedderburn's past looms large, and the search for Knight raises questions about his own future. If Jamieson succeeds, how will it impact Wedderburn and those around him? As Jamieson delves into Knight's story, he grapples with his motivations, questioning how to find someone who seeks to remain hidden. The narrative spans sixty years, traversing battlefields, Jamaican plantations, Enlightenment Edinburgh, and Dundee's back streets, offering a poignant exploration of history, identity, and a forgotten chapter of Scottish history.