One doesn't really enjoy a book like this, dark as it is, but one can say that it's incredibly evocative.  Thomas brings to life the free black people in Canada, and their constant fear of slave catchers coming across the border.  The story centers around Lensinda, a young black journalist tasked with collecting their stories, and Cash, an escaped slave who kills one of the bounty hunters sent to recapture her.

Cash won't reveal her full story unless Lensinda swaps stories of her own.  As the two share stories of slave life and free life, with some mythology mixed in, Lensinda slowly learns that perhaps the answer to why Cash chose to kill the bounty hunter (and it was a choice) isn't the most important thing about Cash's life.  Both tales jump around in time, and can be somewhat hard to follow as there are few textual clues to mark the shifts in time, making this a challenging book to read on an already challenging subject.  For those with the foritude to track the story, though, it's a worthwhile addition to genre.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review. 

"Beware a dangerous tale, it is a knife that must be used, or left to lay." –Simeon

Having not read any fiction that portrays the lives of Black women and men who sought freedom across the border and who formed relations and relationships with Indigenous people, I was eager to read Thomas' novel. Add in that he is of Trini heritage and I was even more intrigued to see what he could do with this narrative. I was not disappointed.

Thomas uses a format that is inherent in our culture of passing on stories orally, of trading tales that bind and allow us to forge deeper community. The exchange of stories between Lensinda and the old woman is both illuminating and reflective. We learn of how a helping hand is extended, the ways in which persons flee bondage and are shepherded across into a community that welcomes and shields. We also witness how such a community thrives and supports each other.

And even when violence and dark actions were portrayed it was not for gratuitous satisfaction but to pprtray the reality under which Black bodies existed. There were many ways in which this narrative could have become mired in trauma, as is the history that is being depicted, but Thomas is thoughtful and intent on bringing stories of freedom fought and won to the fore. 

I was reminded of other books that tackled similar stories and that were structured similarly and all were by Caribbean authors or authors of Caribbean heritage: The Confessions of Frannie Langton, The Polished Hoe, Remembrance, and Book of the Little Axe. It must be something in the blood, this way of rendering such history on the page.