Book: Freeman by Leonard Pitts, Jr.
Reviewed by: Jessica
Leonard Pitts, Jr.’s novel, Freeman, is an eye opening look into the aftermath of the Confederate Army’s surrender and Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Infused with a myriad of historical details, a sweeping backdrop of America’s ravaged and war torn South, and a brilliantly devised multiple character plot line, Freeman breaks apart what you thought you knew about post-Civil War America. An epic tale of love and war, this novel resonates with humanity’s depth of longing and hope in the most atrocious circumstances.
Freeman unfurls with Sam, a runaway slave who upon hearing of General Lee’s surrender, decides to forsake his job at a library in Philapdelphia and set out on foot to journey into a savage and war-lacerated South. Crazed with a fervor to get back to his wife who he has not seen in fifteen years, Sam faces the horrors of a place in which the white population is unwilling to surrender its “entitled” right to own slaves and its insurmountable hatred of the Northerners who tore apart the bourgeois lifestyle. Motivated by his abiding love for his wife, Tilda, Sam continues ever onward.
Meanwhile, two other stories are told during the time Sam searches for Tilda. Tilda is being driven by gunpoint by her owner Jim McFarland from his ruined estate in Mississippi to Arkansas where he wishes to find a place in which he can openly pursue his right as a slave owner and be respected as an officer from the Confederate Army. Beaten, raped and emotionally tortured, Tilda is unable to escape from McFarland and has deserted hope of ever being able to live any other way than what she has known since belonging to him. At the same time, Prudence Kent, a young white widow, ventures from her home in Boston to Buford, Mississippi where she unleashes a fury when the white population learns she is there to open up a school for the newly freed slaves, a late wish of her passionate abolitionist father. With a stubborn and unrelenting personality, Prudence faces a dangerous situation as she unwittingly pushes the local population too far. Astounding for its portrayal of the vulnerability inherent in lost innocence and tragedy, Freeman is a beautiful story of redemption, compassion and love.
What I treasured most about Freeman were the breaking points each of the characters faced and how shocking each of those moments were when they came up. I absolutely loved how Sam, Tilda, and Prudence were pulled up from the darkest despair by purpose and love. I highly recommend this book. It will leave you craving more. It is simply astonishing .
BookPeople 
I’m putting it on my “to read list.” My son and I are just finishing up a study on the US Civil War – thanks for the review.
This is one of the best books that I have ever read. Why isn’t it on the best seller list or getting more PR. It’s great and I only heard about it by word of mouth and the person who told me just took a chance on it by seeing it on Amazon.
Heard an interview with Mr. Pitts on a talk radio show and was so moved that i started right away looking for the book. Can’t find it locally, so will order it online. Can’t wait to read it.
As I said in my review, I just don’t understand why this great book has not gotten more press. I ordered my copy from the library.
This is a “must read”. I could not put it down.Amazing, vivid encounters during this period in history. Will definitely read more books by this author.