R E K. (bigstone) - , reviewed on 5/22/2022 + 1452 more book reviews

Jamie Pyke is a Negro, who is light enough that he can pass as a white man. A wealthy aristocrat in Philadelphia, he is a silversmith and womanizer, living an interestsing life. All is well until his whitse lover is pregnant and his favored servant, Pan, needs help.

Jamie owes his freedom to Pan's father, who helped him escape the horrors of slavery. It is 1830 when Jamie chooses to risk his cherished life and travel to a plantation in North Carolina to save Pan from slavery. Sukey, a slave on the plantation, has chosen to help Pan. Meanwhile, Jamie is coming, working against time and those who chase him through the backwoods of Virginia, the Underground Railroad and the Great Dismal Swamp, because they remember he was once a slave. Jamie's adoption family do not know his real background. Raised white by a woman he thought was grandmother, he was born to a Belle, a slave raped by her owner.

Meet the memorable characters: Henry , a runaway slave and loving father; Sukey, a brave woman who does what she does for others; Pan, Henry's son, a bright and curious boy; and the caring individuals of the Underground Railroad. The tale is narrated with by James, Caroline, Pan, and Sukey. Pan has abducted by slave traffickers who ship him to the Deep South. Henry ashs for James' help to rescue his son because he owes Henry for saving him from the life that Pan now faces. Danger lurks along the path James travels and one wonders if any of the characters will avoid it, particularly when situations seem impossible but someone always seems to hold out the help they need.

Good read? Yes. And a scary, realistic story told by those who might have lived it. Read it. Become involved in the tragic time when slavery was part of our history. It's well worth it.

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