Harriet Tubman was a scout for the union army and led a successful raid up the Combahee River in South Carolina that freed 750 men, women, and children. This is the historical novel of her heroic raid, from the bestselling author of The Hamilton Affair.
... 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.
