Caryl Phillips' 1992 historical fiction novel, Cambridge, tells the story of an ex-slave who is sold back into slavery and finds himself on an unnamed Caribbean island. Emily and Cambridge are the main characters, insofar as their respective narratives compose the majority of the novel, delivered in the form of journals.

Emily is an upperclass young Puritan and daughter of a sugarcane plantation owner on the island to which she sails, and which occasions her keeping of a journal. Though the slave trade has ended, Emily's prejudices are evident through her narration; however, she is not an altogether vapid or simple character. She proves receptive to Cambridge, acknowledging both his strength and intelligence (calling him at one point "the impressive black Hercules”). Emily, though the comparatively privileged character, suffers the sexual abuse of Brown, who molests her. Emily also has the misfortune of delivering a still-born child.

Cambridge is a former slave, who was liberated and trained as a (particularly eloquent) preacher in England. Cambridge's narrative demonstrates his erudition, and makes his misfortune of being sold back into slavery especially ironic. Cambridge's birth name was Olumide, and he was subsequently renamed Thomas and David before receiving the name with which he would die: Cambridge.

Other minor characters include the unsavory and brutish Arnold Brown, the overseer who seduces Emily. It is for Brown's murder that Cambridge is ultimately hanged. The household slave, Stella, is Emily's (however unlikely) chief friend and confidante during Emily's disorientating stay on the island where she, too, will die.