How did the wealth of a typical Georgian family, the Atkinsons, rely upon the exploitation of enslaved Africans in the Caribbean? Richard Atkinson, a descendant of the family, utilizes private correspondence and archival records to trace the origins of his ancestors' fortune. He bridges the gap between their Cumbrian home and the ruins of their Jamaican sugar estates, constructing a narrative that confronts the moral cost of colonial prosperity.

The work is regarded as a significant contribution to the study of British colonial history, noted for its intimate and unflinching examination of ancestral complicity. The text provides a dense, research-driven narrative that successfully links personal family history to broader systemic injustices.