First published 2008
Liz Spocott, a young runaway slave, flees into the underground railroad, haunted by visions of the future. As she evades a notorious slave thief, a troubled slave catcher is drawn out of retirement to track her down. In the dripping swamps of Maryland's Eastern Shore, the web of relationships in a small town unravels in a gripping game of cat and mouse. McBride's lyrical storytelling explores the moral choices that weighed on both the enslaved and their captors in a world where lines blurred between right and wrong.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, 19th-century, african-american-historical-fiction
Vibes: intimate, lyrical, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: cat-and-mouse, moral-ambiguity
Setting: Maryland
369 pages · Paperback · Riverhead Books
Content warnings: slavery, violence