First published 1988
In 1860, Somerset Place was a thriving North Carolina plantation—and a graveyard of forgotten lives. Decades later, Dorothy Spruill Redford embarks on a personal crusade to uncover the stories of Somerset's 300 enslaved workers, whose only trace was a lonely sign marking their quarters. Traveling archives and porches, Redford pieces together a family tree spanning generations, determined to give her ancestors a voice. Her efforts culminate in a joyous homecoming that brings together over 2,000 descendants, launching a new era of reckoning with Somerset's complex past.
Genres: 20th-century, biography-memoir, 21st-century, 19th-century, african-american-historical-fiction, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family
Setting: North Carolina, Somerset Place
Period: 1860, Decades Later
266 pages · Hardcover · Doubleday
Content warnings: slavery