Literary Fiction by People of Color discussion

It's September 1st, the starting date for our discussion about Freeman by Leonard Pitts Jr.. I know that many of our group members have already read this book, so I'm sure that this will be a wonderful discussion. Columbus will be our discussion leader this month.

Here's a little biographical information about the author:

Leonard Pitts, Jr. was born and raised in Southern California and now lives in suburban Washington, DC, with his wife and children. He is a columnist for the Miami Herald and won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, in addition to many other awards. He is also the author of the novel Before I Forget (Agate Bolden, 2009); the collection Forward From this Moment: Selected Columns, 1994-2009, Daily Triumphs, Tragedies, and Curiosities (Agate Bolden, 2009); and Becoming Dad: Black Men and the Journey to Fatherhood (Agate Bolden, 2006).

Much more information can be found on his website:

http://leonardpittsjr.com/Biography.html

A number of interviews and reviews of this book have already been posted in other threads. Here's an interview on NPR:

http://www.npr.org/2012/05/10/1522556...

Here's a review of Freeman from the Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/enterta...

Happy reading to all!

No, those aren't messages asking you to leave, Hattie! Goodreads puts those in at the bottom in case someone wants to leave a group. We all are very happy to have you here and we really don't want you to leave! Don't feel pressured about participating; just join in whenever you wish. We're glad that you are here!

Love, love, loved this book!

Can't wait for some discussion.

Greetings All & Happy September!

While some have finished the book, others are still reading the book and then more still are waiting for a copy from their local library.  So for the first couple of day's we'll go a little slow.

 What is your general impression of Leonard Pitts as a novelist and/or journalist? There's been some incredible Neo-Slave narratives written just in the last 10 years:   The Book of Night Women; Song Yet Sung; The Known World -and extending on to the Pulitzer Prize winning, Beloved in '87.  Any others i missed? What makes this style or genre so compelling? Also, who has finished, still reading (myself included) and who is still waiting on a copy?

Let's begin!

Renee wrote: "Love, love, loved this book!

Can't wait for some discussion."

Renee, I must admit, I started this book about 8 or 9 day's ago and I just don't want it to end. Incredible prose!

I have finished the book

A couple of other books that come to mind - Wench, Someone Knows My Name (or The Book of Negroes), The Secret of Mary Bowser, Property, The Healing.

Beverly wrote: "I have finished the book

A couple of other books that come to mind - Wench, Someone Knows My Name (or The Book of Negroes), The Secret of Mary Bowser, Property, The Healing."

Oh, how could I ever forget Wench, Beverly. I enjoyed it a little less than the others I think, but, I did enjoy it never the less.

Columbus wrote: "Beverly wrote: "I have finished the book

A couple of other books that come to mind - Wench, Someone Knows My Name (or The Book of Negroes), The Secret of Mary Bowser, Property, The Healing."

Oh, ..."

I didn't actually care for Wench nearly as much as other similar books.

With this second novel, I think that I can be considered a fan of Pitts. I loved Before I Forget and I loved this book as well. I have enjoyed his column for years, but I am very glad that his fiction is being published now.

I'm still ready Freeman but I've read countless books in this area. For me this genre is so compelling because it doesn't shy away from a way of life in America that set the stage for what we face now. Slavery and its aftermath (Civil War, Reconstruction, American Apartheid) continues to have real implications for our current lives and these books provide us a window into that time. Even though it is fiction, it is not far fetched from what happened. I'm able to glimpse what life might've been like in different ways from reading archival material. It allows me to continue to remember, appreciate and revere the lives and struggles of the enslaved.

I have finished the book also.

Great writing and detail as I said earlier. I'm going all over the place because my thoughts are over the place. I so appreciated all the effort, research and the thought process Pitts put into this book. Yes, there was a lot some of us knew but I still learned a lot. I never knew what went into going to the south and setting up a school. Apparently, if you have the means, you can just do that. I didn't hear anything about any government clearance or permits.

I have read my share of slavery and Civil War novels; this rates right up there with the best. I enjoyed The March by E.L. Doctorow which chronicles the fighting of the war; Freeman does an excellent job of chronicling the plight of what freedom means; what happens when a people are set free; how they are still not free, physically, mentally, emotionally because freedom appears to be a gradual process. Ise free now! is more than a notion, so much more. The obstacles are insurmountable, overwhelming, impossible in many cases. The majority are illiterate, don't know nothing. But we are a a people who have survived, but it is so much more than survival.

This book is definitely in my top 10 for 2012. Loved it. It was a definitely page turner.

I'm still reading.

Honestly, I'm scared of this book. I have a feeling it will just be emotionally devastating. Known World was nearly too much for me. A Mercy, Wench, and Someone Knows My Name, I loved them but they took a lot out ya, you know? So I haven't started. I'm trying to work up my nerve.

Hattie wrote: "CANE RIVER by Lalita Tademy is another wonderful book IMO. During Oprah's earlier bookclub I read Cane River. Just a few weeks ago I bought a copy. Want to reread it."

I loved Cane River. Over the last 10 years, I have probably re-read it about 5-6 times.

Rashida I feel the same way and I know that's why I keep putting my kindle down. I'm not ready to face all that I have to face when reading a book like this.

Amazing. Once I started reading it, I could not stop. I had to know what happened to everyone.

Rashida, I agree. This book and all the other's we mentioned are incredibly painful to read. It's draining and I'm emotionally spent reading this at times. Pitts and the others have invested their time and soul in researching, chronicling and giving a painful account of a sorrowful time in our nations history. I've put this book down several times because of that and had to walk away with the thought of these passages weighing on me throughout the day. Yes, it's that powerful! Dera's posting #14 she mentioned her "thoughts are all over the place" and that totally describes me here. There's just no way to adequately describe some of these situations and feel you're doing justice to it. 

Painful, yes, but for me, so life-affirming. Knowing that my ancestors lived through these situations and lived through with their humanity intact just amazes me and inspires me. One of the things that I love about this book is that the characters are so beautifully developed that I can picture them as people who could have been my ancestors or friends of theirs. For me, that is always a make-or-break factor in books about slavery and its aftermath. If I can picture earlier versions of me in the book, I'm in.

Wilhelmina wrote: "Painful, yes, but for me, so life-affirming. Knowing that my ancestors lived through these situations and lived through with their humanity intact just amazes me and inspires me. One of the things ..."

I completely agree, Mina. Totally!

Cane River has been sitting on my shelf. Wow Hattie thank you. I will have to read it now.

Rebecca wrote: "Cane River has been sitting on my shelf. Wow Hattie thank you. I will have to read it now."

Don't miss out on this wonderful book! It is easily in my top 10 favorite all time books.

I am still reading but hope to be finished soon. A couple of other titles are Wake of the Wind by J. California Cooper and Kindred by Octavia Butler.

I had the pleasure of meeting this author at my local library during a discussion of his book. The author and I are both history geeks and love "bottom up" history, that is history told by the everyday people - not the few names and dates we were forced to learn about in school.

Pitts' ability to tell a convincing love story during the hell of post Civil War America is amazing. He shatters some myths and give context to others - like the benevolent slave master. Just because they didn't believe in whipping slaves and supported educating them didn't make them good people...it made them slaveowners.


I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the comments in this post.

Columbus wrote: "Greetings All & Happy September!

While some have finished the book, others are still reading the book and then more still are waiting for a copy from their local library.  So for the first couple ..."

I hear ya, Rashida! I was a history major and researched and read a lot about how a dominant group can be so ugly to a minority group and yet that minority group can still persevere and succeed. It makes me wonder where did we lose that fighting spirit or did we lose it? Historical fiction can teach just as much (if not more) than any dense non-fiction tome. I hope you are able to read the book and celebrate how far we have come.


Rashida wrote: "Honestly, I'm scared of this book. I have a feeling it will just be emotionally devastating. Known World was nearly too much for me. A Mercy, Wench, and Someone Knows My Name, I loved them but they..."

I finished reading the book last night. I prepared myself for the blood and violence once Sam left Philadelphia. After I waded through The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson, when I had to close the book several times because it was non-fiction and especially because it happened during my lifetime, maybe I was able to steel myself for Sam's journey through Mississippi.

I won't reveal any spoilers, but I did immerse myself in the language of this book. As a late-blooming aspiring author myself, when I encounter a book like this one, I try to take away a lesson for my own writing. What I found in Freeman was the use of "smile" through most of the first half of the book. I started underlining in my Kindle all the different kinds of smile, and found it amazing how one simple word can be used.

"She smiled a thin smile" "a humorless smile opened like a seam in the heavy beard" "thought Bonnie with a private smile" "The tight smile became a grimace" "Shine smiled that smile that made it seem as if a lamp had been lit inside his skull"

"Now his smile shrank down to almost nothing, only to be reborn as a little smirk" "The question brought a rueful smile" "He smiled the easy, beneficent smile of someone who has won a victory" "It was a real smile, not the strained parody of a smile he saved for white people"

"There was something almost cruel in the smile that curled Brother’s lips" "Sister smiled bashfully" "He smiled again but it had a rather sickly cast" "His mouth was smiling a strange smile his eyes knew nothing about" "After a moment, the smile softened, like a balloon with the air leaking out of it"

"favored her with a bright, brittle smile" "He lifted his hat and smiled a jaunty smile" "His smile was faint as a mid-morning moon" "smiling that barely there smile" "gave her that smile that threatened to split his face along its seams"

HAD ENOUGH?

All that smiling gave me a sense of joy even through the pain of the story.

Sarah, amidst all the pain and suffering there's so much love, hope, compassion and strength in this book. I didn't catch the "smile" phrases myself but it's mentioned too frequently for it to be accidental. What do you think?

I had planned to wait a day or two to discuss the details of the book, but why wait? There's been some really, really passionate, thoughtful comments here from EVERYONE, so I've  been motivated to just keep it moving.... Let's kind of concentrate on the first 1/3 of the book for now to allow those still reading to get a chance to catch up and use our familiar [Spoiler Alert] to indicate when something crucial is about to be revealed. Let's go....

We're immediately introduced to Sam (or is it Henry, Hark, Perseus). What is your initial impression of Sam? How did his experience working in the library with Mary Cuthbert where he thought  "a colored man with a book in hand would be no particular novelty, nor incite sidelong glances of threat and hostility" influence and shape his decisions. Or did they? The first hostile confrontation Sam has is with his co-worker, Billy Horn. Horn took his frustrations out on Sam grousing that he fought the war to restore the Union but not to give niggers freedom (sentiments expressed by so many others). What did you make of this confrontation and its aftermath?

to Joy's observation about historical fiction. yes. yes, yes, yes. still reading Freeman, still moved by the Book of Night Women, Someone knows my Name and other books I've read because we've read them. Historical fiction helps me know what questions I need to ask, what lessons need learning. thank you again/still for this group and everyone's contributions

I too find reading historical fiction relating to our history (and slavery) compelling and inspiring. Yes, the stories are emotional and painful - but often times the truth will set you free and to me learning about our past is very important. Often when reading historical fiction I am encouraged to do further reseach and learn more about our fascinating history.

For me each of the books has a different slant/different message adding another layer of understanding to the complexity of what is our history and to me the history of the United States.

From Freeman (no spoilers)I got the following:
- I thought this book did an excellent job in showing how unprepared the United States was for the abolition of slavery. And the lack of planning is still evident today
- On an individual level - Freeman shows on "being free" was personal on many levels and each newly freed slave and freed black person had to figure out for themselves what this meant and what were their next steps, and what did "being free" really mean. This was one of the most interesting aspectes of the book for me. Each black person had their own past that influenced what "being free" meant. And all of this had to be done without any infrastructure or common boundaries in place. You wake up the next day "free" but you still had to eat, sleep and work some place and for most without a resourse to the name. Freeman explores a diverse group of experiences.

@ Beverly 36: Freeman shows on "being free" was personal on many levels and each newly freed slave and freed black person had to figure out for themselves what this meant and what were their next steps, and what did "being free" really mean. This was one of the most interesting aspectes of the book for me. Each black person had their own past that influenced what "being free" meant. And all of this had to be done without any infrastructure or common boundaries in place. You wake up the next day "free" but you still had to eat, sleep and work some place and for most without a resourse to the name. Freeman explores a diverse group of experiences.

Yes! I struggled with this book in many ways - gender dynamics and structure - but I deeply appreciated how Pitts presented that each character had to define "freedom" for themselves. It is a gesture toward "complex personhood" (Harris-Perry, Gordon)

Columbus wrote: " I didn't catch the "smile" phrases myself but it's mentioned too frequently for it to be accidental. What do you think? ..."

Definitely not accidental. The "smile" phrases were noticeably fewer after the 50% mark on my Kindle, and dwindled down to almost none. Until the ending. [Trying hard not to spoil it.]

Beverly wrote: "On an individual level - Freeman shows on "being free" was personal on many levels and each newly freed slave and freed black person had to figure out for themselves what this meant and what were their next steps, and what did "being free" really mean."

I agree that is it in a nutshell. Where each character was at the time they heard the news directed what their next action or inaction might be.

And to respond to Columbus' questions about Sam working in the library alongside white people: Sam had fully embraced his free status before the war ended. He saw himself as an educated man, entitled to certain rights. After fighting for the Union Army, then being taken in and given a paying job by an abolitionist, he seemed to forget what his life had been as a slave. But even when he was a slave he had been driven to seek his freedom.

The fact that he was better educated than his white co-worker added to the friction caused by his presence.

I loved the book. As others have said the language was beautiful and created such vivid imagery on my mind. The words on the page really came to life for me. I would read the book while sitting next to my husband and think about how Pitts had said the book is a love story for black women... I would look up at him time and time again and ask would you do that for me? Would you search for me? Would you have enough faith, hope, love, courage, to risk your life and sanity for our love?

I am so frustrated that the iPad app has only allowed me to read your comments, but not to join in this discussion!

I'm becoming quite a fan of Mr. Pitts. I love the way he uses a character's diction to tell us who he is. This emphasis is pretty pronounced in Sam. Freedom for Sam includes intellectual freedom, a kind of freedom I value as well. So I am pretty shocked to find that Sam's vision of freedom was situational, and was actually dependent on having a lot of kinds of privilege. How is "book learning" related to freedom? And under which circumstances.

I am also very, very pleased that this is a story from a period rarely written-- not a fictionalized slave narrative, but the story of freedmen. This brief window of self-determination for black people is a significant era that is much less well recognized than enslavement as part of our formative history.

I have to agree with all on Mr. Pitts writing - just beautiful!

Opening the book with Sam was interesting to be - as I looked at Sam as an individual and the larger world he lived in. Sam was provided the job (and dignity) by Mary C. - a woman when it came down to rights while having more than Sam - still would not have a voice in the laws that would govern blacks as women still did not have the right to vote at this time.
When we meet Sam I think in some ways he felt helpless and beaten down - he appreciated his job and enjoyed reading his books in his room. Though he fought for the Union - did not see to participate in the greater society outside of his room and job. At this time I wondering why he did not participate with other blacks and freedom activities. I also thought that when Sam started out on his journey it was more out of guilt and to ease his own mine than love.

I just got my book today. Book of Night Women was my first intro to this genre and it was amazing. Not long ago I listened to Beloved and it also took my breathe away. These amazing authors write their books on such deep level with storyline and yet manage to keep the reader connected to it and the characters also. What I love about Freeman although I am not far into it yet is that I feel like I know Sam only 8 pages into the book.

I was really disappointed that Bonnie's character remains flat. They focus is so much on her sister, that the opportunity to really know Bonnie is lost. I found her character difficult to observe - she never gets to take up the page. Bonnie's character was so peripheral. Prudence became the central story - at times displacing other characters.

I am a big fan of this genre. Ever since I read Kindred years ago. Book of Night Woman I thought was extraordinary. Song Yet Sung, Family, and Someone Knows My Name. I have been saving Margaret Walker's Jubilee.

I'm interested in the multiple parallels in the novel - between Sam and his co-worker at the beginning of the novel. Also how disability/loss of limbs works as a metaphor.

Columbus wrote: "Sarah, amidst all the pain and suffering there's so much love, hope, compassion and strength in this book. I didn't catch the "smile" phrases myself but it's mentioned too frequently for it to be a..."

I was immediately drawn to Sam and I know it's because he felt his intellect would shield him from the very hostility that he faced because of his skin color. Reminds me of all the anecdotes about degrees and the such not shielding you from racism, discrimination and hatred. It also shows how important education has been and continues to be for many and how it can be used to set us apart. Opening with Sam's story I think really set the tone for how freedom and ideology surrounding the war would be presented. It was/is a contentious issue for everyone involved and while we don't want to, it's always important to see all sides.

i'm only 40% of the way through the book (so my kindle tells me) so i've skipped izetta's comment, which seems to give away some events that happens later. since leonard pitts, jr., has been writing in the miami herald for a long time i've known him for a long time as a columnists and journalists and have always loved the columns he wrote. i confess that i approached his first book with some prejudice. in my view, novelists are novelists and not all journalists are automatically novelists. the story was good but the language didn't blow me away. same with this book. if anything, this book seems to me less beautifully written than Before I Forget. and yet so many of you praise and are taken by the language. i am wondering if there is someone else who is as underwhelmed by the language of this book as i am. (please don't jump on me).

Jo - I think I get what you are trying to say. There have been other books I have read where the very words seemed almost lyrical and the story took back seat to the mere telling of it. I often find character studies to be such types of books.

For me, the beauty of this book was how the language and the story were able to make such an emotional connection for me. I would not call the language beautiful itself, but I would say it was very capable of evoking an emotional reaction. I love how Sarah pointed out how the descriptive smiles were used so much in the beginning. And, just those simple descriptions are able to convey a myriad of emotions without being overly obvious. I beautifully written book, even if the language itself was not always beautiful. Maybe if it was not the right story, the writing itself could not have stood up to it? But, then again, maybe not. I do believe Pitt's is a gifted writer. I read Pitt's other book, Before I Forget, and I did not find the language beautiful there either - but I loved reading a book that explored the emotions of men, fathers and sons and their connections. It was such a different experience for me with that book.

Having never read any of Pitt's columns, I have no comparison for his writing as a columnist versus a novel.

Eek! I am so sorry for the spoiler! Oy. Can that be deleted. Let me see. Sorry! I've been really eager to talk about the book and forgot. My bad.

jo wrote: "in my view, novelists are novelists and not all journalists are automatically novelists...."

It was interesting to me that, when I saw the author speak here in Atlanta, he said that he was a novelist first, but that he wasn't able to get a publisher interested and became a columnist to pay the bills.

Well, I think that's what makes this book so very impressive as many of you have noted. Pitt's has brought a closeness, a familiarity with these characters that we can identify with. Because of this closeness, we feel the sorrow and pain experienced by Sam in his journey. This might be the one thing that separates this book from all the other books about slavery we discussed.

Something else that struct me as really powerful and is mentioned throughout the book - so no [Spoiler] needed - were the use of actual Historical Classified Ads used to find loved ones. The use of various factual devices intermixed with fiction (faction?) is a clever device, indeed.

Continuing with some of the other characters but staying with the first part of the book - What was your impression of Tilda? How did the loss of her son contribute to some of the decisions she made? Or,, did it? I kept thinking about the term I've often heard the "slave mentality" used to describe someone servile or hopelessly oppressed to whites and often used in the work place. Was this Tilda? 

jo wrote: "i'm only 40% of the way through the book (so my kindle tells me) so i've skipped izetta's comment, which seems to give away some events that happens later. since leonard pitts, jr., has been writin..."

Jo, I also enjoy Pitts nationally syndicated articles. He's fair and balanced and not at all afraid to tackle uncomfortable issues and he's a great debater as well. His column writing seem so dissimilar to his novel writing to me that it's hard for me to compare the two. Enjoying both a lot and now I intend to read Before I Forget.

Some of the others still reading what is your impression thus far? The prose, historical aspect, writing potency, characters...?

Izetta Autumn wrote: "Eek! I am so sorry for the spoiler! Oy. Can that be deleted. Let me see. Sorry! I've been really eager to talk about the book and forgot. My bad."

Izetta, I want to talk about Bonnie, too. Without skipping too far ahead, I was disappointed that Bonnie didn't leave Prudence on the train and go back to Boston. She was satisfied that Prudence learned she could not publicly treat Bonnie as an equal. So sad she couldn't have a life of her own.

Columbus wrote: "Continuing with some of the other characters but staying with the first part of the book - What was your impression of Tilda? How did the loss of her son contribute to some of the decisions she made? Or,, did it? I kept thinking about the term I've often heard the "slave mentality" used to describe someone servile or hopelessly oppressed to whites and often used in the work place. Was this Tilda? "

I've never lost a child, but I can imagine it would be a tragedy that will always hold a parent back. I wouldn't call it a slave mentality for Tilda, more a survival mentality. When she learned the war was over, she thought she had nowhere to go. And she knew her crazy "Marse" would follow her if she ran away.

Wilhelmina wrote: "

It was interesting to me that, when I saw the author speak here in Atlanta, he said that he, but that he wasn't able to get a publisher interested and became a columnist to pay the bills."

mina, for some psychological reason entirely my own, it makes a difference that you say this. i must say, in fairness, that pitts knows how to build and tell a story. this is a book to which i want to return bc i want to know what happens. it is also striking me v. much, as i've seen mentioned by others, that he covers a period in the history of slavery that i've never seen covered in fiction before. it's amazing what can be conveyed of the tensions and dynamics of slavery through a narrative that centers on this period. finally (for now!), it's a very balanced story. even the most heinous characters are given their due. in fact, i think they may be given their due more than the protagonists. i have a feeling that pitts does a better job making secondary characters (tilda's "marse," the shopkeeper in buford, ben) come alive than making our protagonists come alive. so far (and this is something i had in mind too when i wrote my initial comment about language) sam, tilda, prudence and especially bonnie seem flat to me. but it may be early times.

thanks renee for your comment.

columbus, i feel i cannot say anything about tilda. but maybe that is part of the answer. maybe she's so broken by her loss and so broken by slavery, she's just a shadow and i find nothing to say about her. it's striking when wilson and _____ (don't remember her name) stand up to the white owner with such pride, and tilda can barely understand it.

Columbus wrote: "Well, I think that's what makes this book so very impressive as many of you have noted. Pitt's has brought a closeness, a familiarity with these characters that we can identify with. Because of thi..."

Columbus, I was thinking the same thing about Tilda and her "slave mentality" for the first part of the book and knowing that the death of her son is what contributes to her behavior and her thinking. Parts of me don't want to say "slave mentality" yet but I can see how she had to restructure her thoughts to keep what she could of her sanity, that I'm sure suffered after her son being killed. There is some hidden strength in Tilda that we may be reluctance to see because she hasn't quite acted on her "freedom" yet. But I think this is Pitts way of again showing us that strength and bravery comes in many forms and depends on the person and our own experiences when viewing that person and their actions.

I would also venture to say that the loss of her son and the loss of her love for Sam (if she did in fact lose it) definitely shaped and influenced her. I think Tilda is much more complex than I wanted to give her credit for.

Continualknowledge wrote: "Columbus wrote: "Well, I think that's what makes this book so very impressive as many of you have noted. Pitt's has brought a closeness, a familiarity with these characters that we can identify wit..."

Yes, I would agree she is a complex character and consciously written as such, no doubt. But, I so sympathized with her most likely because I liked Sam and their relationship and the death of Luke was so heartbreaking. But, I was frustrated with her as well and wanted her to move. You just feel so connected to these characters....Why, oh why did you do this to us, Pitts?!

I thought that Tilda was very interesting because of the complexity of her relationship to slavery. Tilda initially buys into the idea of the "good master" - that, because she and Sam have it better than some other slaves, it will be possible to live a good live in slavery. When Sam can not accept that concept and is joined by their son, it is easier for her to blame Sam for the resulting tragedy than to challenge her own ideas about slavery. I can imagine that there were some enslaved people who were able to sustain a similar viewpoint right into the post-Civil War days. For Tilda, however, the fallacy comes to a crashing end when the "good master" who promised never to sell her actually did, and she was plummeted into Hell. I am not surprised that, having lost both her family and her sustaining world view, she slid into paralysis.

I loved Sam from the beginning and understood him. For Sam, his escape from all that he had lost was a retreat into the life of the mind. He had conflict with his racist white coworker, but his confidence in his own intellectual and moral superiority enabled him to rise above it. This was familiar to me - so many families used similar methods with their children during segregation. White folks have sometimes asked me about feelings of inferiority during that time. I and most children I knew never felt inferior because we were raised by our parents to know that we were at least as good as anyone else and certainly superior to ignorant, racist white people. Sam uses his superior intellect, vocabulary, and "book knowledge" as a wall of protection. When the war ends, however, his world is abruptly opened up and he has to consider how he should behave, not just as an intelligent man, but as a free man, and his priorities shift. If he is free, he has to be free to reclaim his greatest loss - his beloved Tilda.

Pitts also said that the character of Sam is based closely on himself.

I would have liked to see more about Bonnie also, but I suppose that there are limits about how many characters an author feels comfortable focusing on in a book. I don't think that there is any chance that Bonnie would not follow Prudence into the South. Not only did she feel terribly grateful to her "sister" and her family, but she had lived in an unreal cocoon in Prudence's family. She understood this, far more than Prudence did. She could not have felt comfortable indefinitely in that world, especially when Prudence was taking such a large risk to educate Bonnie's own people. She understood the risk, but I don't think that she could return to the safety of Boston - she would have felt cowardly and disloyal. I did love the small insights we got about Bonnie when she was interacting with other black people.