Down the River

by David Wilma

Phyllis Wallace Lewis is a former slave writing to her children in the year 1867. Down the River describes her hard life on the Kentucky frontier. Phyllis grows up an orphan with blue eyes and fair skin and she is never truly embraced by the tiny slave community of the Morgan farm. The manipulative Morgan arrives one hot day with a mate for her ? the love of her life ? and uses her as an agent of his own ambitions. When Morgan's plans for her do not go as planned, her husband is sold away. Then she is held for the Morgan' murder. She escapes the lynch mob, but not before her two young children and the rest of her community is loaded onto boats for Mississippi. Phyllis searches for her children and learns that they have been taken to Indian country by her mentor Esther. But Phyllis must leave Kentucky as a price of her freedom.

301 pages, Paperback

First published March 5, 2011

Reviews

[Polly Krize]

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

We read about Phyllis Lewis again, featured in Mr. Wilma's book The Guardian in her continued fight against slavery. Well written.