Newport, Rhode Island. Summer, 1763. When a young servant named Phebe is sent on an errand to the harbor, she witnesses a moment that will change her life forever: her master purchasing a boy newly arrived on a slave ship. He is given a new name?Arthur?and placed in her care.
What begins as curiosity deepens into something far more dangerous.
As revolution ignites across the colonies, Phebe and Arthur are swept into a world unmoored by war, loyalty, and survival. Together, they flee from New England to occupied New York, endure exile in the harsh wilderness of Nova Scotia, and ultimately journey across the Atlantic to Sierra Leone?where a fragile abolitionist dream offers hope, but no guarantees.
Along the way, Phebe encounters spies and soldiers, aristocrats and outcasts, healers and liars?each shaping her understanding of freedom, belonging, and the cost of love in a divided world.
Spanning continents and years of upheaval, this sweeping historical novel is a story of courage, resilience, and a bond that defies the boundaries of its time.
