All We Were Promised, by Ashton Lattimore
This is an historical novel set in Philadelphia before The Civil War. It is well researched, and involved some fascinating and appalling history concerning Pennsylvania and slavery which I’d never encountered in history class ( I am from Pennsylvania). The characters in the story describe diverse experiences. For instance, there’s Nell, a young woman born into a wealthy Black family in Philadelphia, Charlotte (or Carrie), a woman who escaped a Southern plantation with her father, and James, Charlotte’s father, a talented woodworker who is passing as a rising businessman in the white community. Charlotte is posing as her father’s domestic servant, a role James keeps her tethered to to keep her safe, which unfortunately does not keep her happy. And finally, there is Evie, a close friend Charlotte left behind so unceremoniously when she ran away, and who just happens to suddenly appear in Philadelphia, but not as a free woman. I’m impressed that the author took on the ha...