Baton Rouge, 1869. The Civil War might be over, but former slaves Coleman and June have yet to find the freedom they've been promised. Two years ago, the siblings were separated when their old master, Mr. Harper, took June away on a hair-brained quick money scheme to Mexico, where he hoped to escape the new reality of the post-war South. Coleman stayed behind in Louisiana to serve the Harper family, clinging to the hope that one day Mr. Harper would bring June back to him.
When an unexpected letter from Mr. Harper arrives, summoning Coleman and the Harper family to Mexico, Coleman thinks that finally his prayers have been answered. What Coleman cannot know is the tangled truth of June's tribulations under Mr. Harper out in the Mexican frontier. And soon, when disaster strikes Coleman's journey, he is forced on the run with Mr. Harper's daughter, Florence. Together, they set out into the Mexican desert to find June's last known whereabouts, all the while evading two shady brothers who'll stop at nothing to capture Coleman and Florence and collect the money they're owed. As Coleman and June separately navigate a perilous, parched landscape, the siblings learn quickly that freedom isn't always given - sometimes, it must be taken by force.
As in his Booker-longlisted debut The Sweetness of Water, Nathan Harris delves into the critical years of the Civil War's aftermath to deliver an intimate and epic tale of what freedom means in a society that still longs to return its Black citizens to bondage. Populated with unforgettable characters, Amity is a new Western for our times, and a vital addition to the literature of emancipation.
