The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead
Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Her already hellish existence as a slave is made worse by the fact that her mother escaped years ago, leaving Cora, just a child, alone in the world. As a result, she is an outcast among her fellow slaves. Faced with her bitter future, she jumps at the chance of escape, in the form of Caesar, a slave newly arrived from Virginia.
Caesar tells her of his contacts with the Underground Railroad, which nobody believes operates so far south. One dark night they escape the plantation and make their way to the nearest station. The Underground Railroad is a physical railway, built underground and drawn along by a steam engine. Secret stations and station masters help to hide and transport slaves to freedom. But Cora is pursued by a terrifying slave-hunter, determined to catch her after he failed to do so with her mother. Read More ยป