Linda Granfield’s latest non-fiction work is modestly titled: it is far more than the story of the hymn. It is an encapsulated history for young readers about the second half of the 18th century, focusing on the slave trade. The book undulates between the general – oppression in the mid- and late 1700s – and the specific – the life of John Newton, slave trader, cleric, and author of the hymn’s words.

Newton was enslaved on a lime plantation as a boy, then ironically, went on to become a slave trader himself. When he survived a near shipwreck, he experienced a spiritual epiphany and became determined to fulfill his mother’s dream for him – to become a minister. As a Methodist minister, he penned anti-slavery tracts and hymns for “plain people” founded on scripture.

Granfield’s research is flawless. She never dismisses the slave traders as mustachio-twirling villains, but rather contextualizes them, depicting them as ordinary men who succumbed to the pressures of their time. Similarly, slavery is presented as one of the many forms of oppression that existed in this period. Granfield widens the scope of the book by alluding to press gangs, child labour, and urban poverty.

Granfield’s prose captivates with its striking concrete details and compelling images. Her sophisticated vocabulary makes no concessions to her juvenile readers, who won’t resent the challenge as they are swept along by her narratives. For Amazing Grace is not one story; it is several. This is both its strength and its one drawback. Teachers will find the book a rich minefield for classes on history, geography, music, and religion. They will also, however, have to wrestle to explain the book’s structure. The shifts from the biographical sections on John Newton to expository sections about the period are often abrupt and even confusing.

Janet Wilson’s illustrations are awash with warm colours that evoke dark rum and raw sugar cane and African skies, creating an authentic sense of what traders like Newton must have seen on their voyages. The artwork vividly reflects Granfield’s descriptions of grim lives illuminated by flashes of hope and faith.