Amity
A Novel
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From the New York Times bestselling author of The Sweetness of Water comes a gripping story about a brother and sister, emancipated from slavery but still searching for true freedom, and their odyssey across the deserts of Mexico to escape a former master still intent on their bondage.
New Orleans, 1866. The Civil War might be over, but formerly enslaved Coleman and June have yet to find the freedom they've been promised. Two years ago, the siblings were separated when their old master, Mr. Harper, took June away to Mexico, where he hoped to escape the new reality of the postbellum South. Coleman stayed behind in Louisiana to serve the Harper family, clinging to the hope that one day June would return.
When an unexpected letter from Mr. Harper arrives, summoning Coleman to Mexico, Coleman thinks that finally his prayers have been answered. What Coleman cannot know is the tangled truth of June's tribulations under Mr. Harper out on the frontier. And when disaster strikes Coleman's journey, he is forced on the run with Mr. Harper's daughter, Florence. Together, they venture into the Mexican desert to find June, all the while evading two crooked brothers who'll stop at nothing to capture Coleman and Florence and collect the money they're owed. As Coleman and June separately navigate a perilous, parched landscape, the siblings learn quickly that freedom isn't always given--sometimes, it must be taken by force.
As in his New York Times bestselling debut The Sweetness of Water, Nathan Harris delves into the critical years of the Civil War's aftermath to deliver an intimate and epic tale of what freedom means in a society still determined to return its Black citizens to bondage. Populated with unforgettable characters, Amity is a vital addition to the literature of emancipation.
About this Author
Nathan Harris is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Sweetness of Water, which was an Oprah's Book Club pick, the winner of the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, and longlisted for the Booker Prize, the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. He holds an MFA from the Michener Center at the University of Texas, and lives in Chicago.
Reviews
"Vivid...The well-developed plot generates strong suspense. It's an indelible slice of postbellum border history."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A smartly imagined western with a different sort of hero...To top off a skillfully constructed plot, Harris has a gift for vivid imagery...and period language...A memorable, impeccably written tale that engages the reader, with its twists and turns, from beginning to end."
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"To call Nathan Harris's Amity a standout novel doesn't do it enough justice. The writing is flawless, the characters unforgettable and, most importantly, the story the world Harris builds never lets us go. A brilliantly executed book."--Jason Mott, National Book Award Winning author of Hell of a Book
"I fell into this stunning novel as into another world, with the shock of encountering something truly original. An epic tale of a budding genius pulled through the borderlands, Amity is harrowing, often beautiful, and deeply moving."--Andrea Barrett, author of Ship Fever and Natural History
"Nathan Harris proves once again that he is one of the greatest literary minds of our generation. The appropriately titled Amity is a mightily engrossing tale, filled with magnificently realized and unforgettable characters in a world that is so thoroughly imagined. Harris employs such careful, balanced storytelling, crafting a novel that is at once harrowing and gentle, dangerous but romantic. Readers will find that for every sorrow there is a joy and for every fool there is a lesson. And it is all woven together with such impeccable prose. Amity is a deeply adventurous and astonishingly beautiful book."--Robert Jones, Jr., author of The Prophets, a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction
"Amity is one of those novels you want to savor. I found myself rereading entire passages just to absorb the richness of every word. Wholly engaging all the senses and fully immersive, Amity brings to life an important historical moment I knew nothing about, one that deserves to be taught in schools. It's a recipe for literary greatness."
--Sadeqa Johnson, New York Times bestselling author of The House of Eve
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