Review: All Different Kinds of Free

All Different Kinds of Free by Jessica McCann will be published on April 1, and is 260 pages.  I received a galley for review from the publisher, and I couldn't put it down.

ADKF is the story of how the comfortable life of free woman of color, Margaret Morgan, is irrevocably altered when the widow of her former owner sends a bounty hunter to reclaim her and her children as property to be sent to auction. What follows is a series of horrific events that crush and destroy a family, but never the spirit of the courageous, honorable, and remarkable Margaret.

I had never heard Margaret Morgan's story or the landmark case of Prigg vs. Pennsylvania that contributed to the rumblings leading up to the Civil War. I've also never before read such detailed, heart-rending accounts of slave auctions or injustice against free people of color in the nineteenth century. McCann perfectly balances history and story, and her cast of characters is unforgettable.

There is a great new voice in historical fiction, and it is Jessica McCann.