Book of The Month discussion

A housemaid with a dangerous family secret conspires with a wealthy young abolitionist to help an enslaved girl escape, in volatile pre-Civil War Philadelphia.

The rebel . . . the socialite . . . and the fugitive. Together, they will risk everything for one another in this “beguiling story of friendship, deception, and women crossing boundaries in the name of freedom” (Lisa Wingate, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Lost Friends).

Philadelphia, 1837. After Charlotte escaped from the crumbling White Oaks plantation down South, she’d expected freedom to feel different from her former life as an enslaved housemaid. After all, Philadelphia is supposed to be the birthplace of American liberty. Instead, she’s locked away playing servant to her white-passing father, as they both attempt to hide their identities from slavecatchers who would destroy their new lives.

Longing to break away, Charlotte befriends Nell, a budding abolitionist from one of Philadelphia’s wealthiest Black families. Just as Charlotte starts to envision a future, a familiar face from her past reappears: Evie, her friend from White Oaks, has been brought to the city by the plantation mistress, and she’s desperate to escape. But as Charlotte and Nell conspire to rescue her, in a city engulfed by race riots and attacks on abolitionists, they soon discover that fighting for Evie’s freedom may cost them their own.

11 chapters

(view spoiler)[ this story is so good so far
It's sad but I knew just how slow everyone was to actually take the antislavery rules seriously - and that there were a lot of loopholes and indentured servitude.

I like the characters - love the fake engagement (hopefully it becomes real!)

curious to see how they work out helping - since like she pointed out - if she leaves, the woman running the house is just going to pull someone else in and she doesn't want to transfer the problem to someone else. (hide spoiler)]

23 chapters

(view spoiler)[ wow, they are really getting into it now - and I can feel the danger.

Ugh, I dislike Kate so much. to dangle the mom over her like that!? but going back to the South!? Terrible! I love that she was giving the fiance a heads up!

Awe, poor Alex. I hope she figures it out soon - she can have both but I understand her hesitance. marriage really is a transaction at this time.

I loved all the cooking storyline too. Heartbreaking but it's hard to know a better way (hide spoiler)]

34 chapters

(view spoiler)[ wow, they are caught
what a horrible women and man they are! To keep them, slap them, put them to work. I hate that they caught them

alex's black eye. I hope she admits to him how much she cares

and I agree, i wonder if money can get them out of this. especially since crappy Kate is trying to hide her history from her new fiance (hide spoiler)]

and done

(view spoiler)[ this one was great. I loved the friendship, the romance with Alex (and how strong and steady he was)

I'm sad James left but I understood.

I love how they got Kate and told what she'd done and what she was hiding! (hide spoiler)]