A book published by the University of the West Indies Press recounts how descendants of the Trevelyan family, whose ancestors enslaved Africans in Grenada, came to issue a public apology and pledge reparations. Entangled Past: Apology and Reparations for Slavery in Grenada, by Nicole Phillip and Laura Trevelyan, was published on October 27, 2026.
The book focuses on the process behind the apology, bringing together the authors’ perspectives with Grenada’s history and the wider Caribbean reparations campaign, according to its publisher. The public apology took place in St George’s on February 27, 2023, after an invitation from Grenada’s National Reparations Committee.
A public apology and pledge
At the 2023 ceremony, seven members of the Trevelyan family attended. The apology was signed by 104 descendants, and Laura Trevelyan donated £100,000 to the University of the West Indies, according to contemporary reporting.
The family’s acknowledgment was tied to its documented history in Grenada. Reports before the ceremony said Trevelyan had learned of the family’s connections through historical records. Those reports said her ancestors owned more than 1,000 enslaved people and that the family received compensation after abolition.
The ceremony account also described six plantations associated with the family. Trevelyan family members called on the British government to negotiate reparations with Caribbean governments, placing the family’s apology within a broader political debate about responsibility for slavery’s lasting consequences.
Care needed over the authors’ family histories
The supplied material contains conflicting descriptions of the authors’ ancestry. A University of the West Indies event description identifies Phillip as a descendant of enslavers and Trevelyan as a descendant of enslaved people. That is the reverse of the ancestry claim in the supplied headline, so the distinction should not be repeated as settled fact without further clarification.
The publisher confirms that Phillip and Trevelyan wrote the book and describes it as an account of the apology and reparations process, but its description does not establish either author’s genealogy. The ancestry detail therefore remains unresolved in the available evidence.
Work continuing beyond the ceremony
The apology was one part of a continuing effort. In 2025, the Trevelyan family was reported to be backing a Grenada-focused searchable archive project called Depths of Paradise, led by Stephen Lewis. The project aims to connect the stories of enslaved people with records of British plantation owners and compensation claims.
A separate report published in November 2026 said the Trevelyan fund had supported more than 50 Grenadian students through bursaries and scholarships, citing Grenada’s National Reparations Committee. The report offers a concrete example of educational assistance linked to the family’s reparations work, though it does not resolve wider questions about the scope or adequacy of reparations.
By setting the apology alongside the archive project and student support, the book’s account presents repair as work that continues after a public expression of remorse. The available material documents these steps but does not establish that they settle the broader claims for reparations made by Caribbean campaigners.