In the zealous, misogynist Barbados, 1680's, a young, white woman must overcome slavery and manipulate a man's
world to rescue her kidnapped daughter and find freedom.
Period drama in the turbulent 17th century
*Feature Script available on request
A time of prejudice; Protestant against Catholic in a deadly see-saw of shifting allegiances. A time of corruption and repression. A time of Empire – and Britain flourished. With an insatiable hunger for slaves, spices, tobacco, cotton, and ever more importantly, sugar - White Gold.
In England, Patience; Dowager Baroness, once a merchant brat, now wealthy and remarried by order of a greedy king – but her first husband was careful and entrusted his estate to his only child, Kitty. Brought to penury by Royalist support, Patience’ new husband fakes Kitty’s drowning and hands her to the ‘Spirits’*.
A devastated Patience searches for her daughter’s body and discovers her new husband’s treachery but, further betrayed by a corrupt magistrate, she too is given to the Spirits. Cossetted and naïve but relentless, Patience’ search for her daughter continues as a white slave in British Barbados. Stripped of her identity and dignity, Patience remains alive through sheer, stubborn will, but is powerless when she discovers Kitty is ‘owned’ by a deranged, murderous plantation wife.
Patience must learn to use her femininity, intelligence and guile. She must learn to respect women, and put aside her religious prejudice. To extract herself and Kitty from slavery and the deadly game of politics, she must stand up in a man’s world, and play them at their own game.
*Spirits were merchant vessels that supplemented cargo** by kidnapping the vulnerable, frequently children, for
the slave trade
**African slaves were very expensive during the late 1600s (50 Sterling). Irish slaves came cheap (no more than 5 Sterling). 100s of 1000s of Irish were sold as slaves until 1839, when the slave trade was criminalised.
world to rescue her kidnapped daughter and find freedom.
Period drama in the turbulent 17th century
*Feature Script available on request
A time of prejudice; Protestant against Catholic in a deadly see-saw of shifting allegiances. A time of corruption and repression. A time of Empire – and Britain flourished. With an insatiable hunger for slaves, spices, tobacco, cotton, and ever more importantly, sugar - White Gold.
In England, Patience; Dowager Baroness, once a merchant brat, now wealthy and remarried by order of a greedy king – but her first husband was careful and entrusted his estate to his only child, Kitty. Brought to penury by Royalist support, Patience’ new husband fakes Kitty’s drowning and hands her to the ‘Spirits’*.
A devastated Patience searches for her daughter’s body and discovers her new husband’s treachery but, further betrayed by a corrupt magistrate, she too is given to the Spirits. Cossetted and naïve but relentless, Patience’ search for her daughter continues as a white slave in British Barbados. Stripped of her identity and dignity, Patience remains alive through sheer, stubborn will, but is powerless when she discovers Kitty is ‘owned’ by a deranged, murderous plantation wife.
Patience must learn to use her femininity, intelligence and guile. She must learn to respect women, and put aside her religious prejudice. To extract herself and Kitty from slavery and the deadly game of politics, she must stand up in a man’s world, and play them at their own game.
*Spirits were merchant vessels that supplemented cargo** by kidnapping the vulnerable, frequently children, for
the slave trade
**African slaves were very expensive during the late 1600s (50 Sterling). Irish slaves came cheap (no more than 5 Sterling). 100s of 1000s of Irish were sold as slaves until 1839, when the slave trade was criminalised.
