Amity
New Orleans, 1866. Coleman is a self-educated and polite young Black man who has remained in the service of the Harper family for want of somewhere else to go. His lack of confidence, together with his fear of the unknown, stopped him from joining his sister June two years ago, when Mr Harper took her with him to Mexico on a money-making expedition.
But Coleman’s safe daily routine is shattered when Amos Turlow arrives in town, bearing a letter from Mr Harper. Mrs Harper declares that her husband is finally requesting that she and their daughter Florence join him in Mexico. Coleman and his beloved companion Oliver the dog, Florence, Mrs Harper and her shoes, and Amos Turlow depart New Orleans on a steamboat – the aptly-named Jubilee. The brief and doomed voyage forces Coleman to face his fears and marks the end of life as he knew it.
This is a classic quest story – Coleman’s wish is to be reunited with his sister, and Florence’s goal is to find her father. Their trek across the desert, encountering people and places the likes of which they’ve never seen before, means they both need to dig deep to discover who they truly are when stripped of the normal structure and order of their lives and what they need to do to survive and, ultimately, to find their own kind of freedom.
Meanwhile, June has endured trials of her own, living with Mr Harper, and it is an encounter with a man named Isaac that finally gives her the courage she needs to escape.
The book contains themes common to Western fiction, including freedom, justice, and wilderness versus civilisation. Nathan Harris is an exceptionally skilful storyteller. This novel will take its rightful place on my bookshelf alongside other classic Southern literature. Outstanding.
