The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation is a historical novel by M.T. Anderson, written for young adult and adult readers. Set in Boston around the time of the American Revolution, it follows Octavian, an African boy raised by a group of rationalist philosophers who secretly study him to test whether Africans are intellectually equal to Europeans. Octavian receives a classical education while gradually discovering that he and his mother are enslaved and are subjects of a cruel experiment. Told in period prose drawing on 18th-century styles, the book confronts the contradiction between the ideals of liberty and the reality of slavery in the founding era. Published in two volumes, The Pox Party and The Kingdom on the Waves, the first won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature in 2006.
What you might want to know about The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
An enslaved boy raised as a subject of philosophical experiment comes of age against the backdrop of the American Revolution.
Yes. The first volume, The Pox Party, won the 2006 National Book Award for Young People's Literature and was a Printz Honor book.
There are two volumes, The Pox Party and The Kingdom on the Waves.
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation was written by M.T. Anderson.
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.