FULL DESCRIPTION
Even though former slaves Annie Coats and her son Gabriel have managed to buy their freedom, their lives are still marked by constant struggle and sacrifice--to the extent that Annie secretly recalls her days on the plantation with fondness. Washington's Georgetown neighborhood, where the Coatses are seeking to build their new lives--with Gabriel, a tailor, producing uniforms for soldiers and fine suits for pompous politicians, and Annie, a seamstress and laundress, catering to the nearby brothels and stately homes--is supposed to be a safe haven, a "promised land" for former slaves, but is effectively a frontier town, gritty and dangerous, with no laws protecting black people. In fact, the city's own emancipation efforts in 1862 serve only to compromise the Coats family's status, putting Gabriel's three young daughters (each of them born free of free parents) at risk of becoming the property of the Coatses' former master. The remarkable emotional energy with which the Coatses rise their daily battles--as they negotiate with their former owner, as they assist other former slaves en route to freedom, as they prepare for the encroaching war, and as they struggle to love each other enough--is what fuels this novel and makes its tragic denoument so devastating.
i can't wait for my copy to arrive! after i read it. i have to put in my two cents after reading. i want everyone to have a shelf of "to be read" as big as mine or bigger.
6 comments:
Woohoo! You won a book and so did I :D Sounds like a good read!
You're so sweet:) This is my birth month too. (The 17th) Happy early Birthday!
Congratulations! That is so fantastic!
Congrats on a nice win! Looking forward to your review!
This book sounds awesome! I think I'll have to go and buy a copy. I just got back from Washington DC and was in the Georgetown area. It should be very interesting to read a historical story about a place I just visited. And about that "to be read" pile - mine is huge. Do you keep a journal of the books you read? I started doing this just a few years ago, and I love it. Just a blank journal, lined, and I jot down the name of the book and author and just a few lines about the book. Sometimes I might quote something particularly memorable from the book. My first journal is almost full. I love looking back on all the books I've read!
Congratulations on your win!! I love Bridget too - she is the greatest!!! I follow BOTH of her blogs and have both her buttons on my blog.
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