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Ashton Lattimore is a new author for me. I chose to read this book because the description sounded like it dealt with the abolitionist movement and the fight for freedom.

Description:
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.

My Thoughts:
This book was enlightening for me as it is the first I've read during the pre-Civil War time period that was not set in what is considered the "deep south". The setting here is Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and many Blacks are free. Just a bit further south the environment at the time would be totally different. There are still major prejudices and segregation here though. I found the political standing of the abolitionists at this time to be brave considering the atmosphere in the city. Obviously, they were inviting trouble. The story of Charlotte and her father, as well as Evie was heartbreaking. It was easy to hate Kate for her role here. Sometimes I found the book a bit slow, but I felt it a good portrayal of what was happening during this time period.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine through Netgalley for an advance copy.