In the Upper Country - LONGLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION 2024

''Fresh and propulsive . . . a testament to the power of story and a veneration of those whose tales are often forgotten'' New York Times

''Masterful . . . practically every page turns up a sentence or a phrase that could have been penned by Toni Morrison or James Baldwin'' George Elliott Clarke, former Poet Laureate of Toronto

Freedom, you can''t get and bury, and keep it and keep it so it won''t ever go away.
No, child.
You got to swing your freedom like a club.

In 1859, deep in the forests of Canada, an elderly woman sits behind bars. She came to Dunmore via the Underground Railroad to escape enslavement, but an American bounty hunter tracked her down. Now she''s in jail for killing him, and the fragile peace of Dunmore, a town settled by people fleeing the American south, hangs by a thread.

Lensinda Martin, a smart young reporter, wants to gather the woman''s testimo