... offers a small glimpse into Harriet’s life and the sacrifices she made ... intriguing ... The novel includes a fictional relationship between Harriet and Samuel, an escaped slave who plays an instrumental role in the raid. The relationship humanizes her; rather than a sexless heroine, Harriet is a woman who wants to be loved and harbors the same desires as anybody else ... While Cobbs largely focuses on Harriet the woman, she doesn’t neglect the cruelties Harriet suffered and witnessed as a slave ... both poignant and inspiring. Through her compelling narrative, author Elizabeth Cobbs offers a nuanced, mostly factual portrayal of a real-life woman who has rightfully achieved mythical status. Because, for all the ways in which Harriet was an ordinary human being, she was even more so an extraordinary one.
Ms. Cobbs is a capable chronicler of the operation ... Ultimately, the novel depicts a heroine as willing to out-argue a room of grizzled white officers as to sail into battle at the bow of a gunship. For reasons unknown, the U.S. Treasury appears to have shelved plans to put Tubman on the $20 bill. For those responsible for the decision, this book ought to be assigned reading.
Highlighting her close association with Union general and abolitionist David Hunter, Cobbs paints a vivid portrait of Tubman at the heart of one of the most innovative, daring, and dangerous missions of the Civil War. The heroic and brilliant Tubman is brought vividly to life as a flesh-and-blood woman and a strong and cunning leader in this compelling and instructive fictional tribute.
Tubman’s world is vividly brought to life as we see her go about her daily routines ... Re-creating the speech patterns and culture of black and white characters alike, Cobbs strives for verisimilitude while avoiding caricature. Although Cobbs allows her heroine a brief love affair, her treatment of her protagonist is so reverential as to render Moses almost superhuman ... A stirring fictional tribute to an American icon.
... an immersive account ... Rich historical detail adds texture, but the highlight is Harriet, a woman who repeatedly risks her life for the freedom of others. Cobbs’s terrific portrait of Tubman will both move and inform readers.
