Set in Dunmore, a fictional Ontario border town along the terminus of the Underground Railroad, In the Upper Country is a moving and fascinating family saga about an old woman's life and journey to freedom just as both are in danger of ending after she kills a slave-catcher attempting to illegally capture her. Her tale is recounted to a prickly Black journalist named Lensinda Martin, the main character, who was born free but herself fled to Dunmore with a painful past, whose goal it to write Cash's story in such a compelling way that it both exonerates her and protects Dunmore from the repercussions of Cash's actions.

What results is an at first grudging then gradually amenable trading of stories between Lensinda and Cash about various people—both men and women, both free and enslaved (and/or formerly enslaved), both Black and Indigenous in both America and Canada—that intertwine in a non-sequential, dual timeline narrative that reveals slavery-era interactions, alliances, and committed relationships between Black and Indigenous people, as well as the connection of both to the land, amidst mutual oppression by the white colonial powers.

The book is extremely well-written, each character fully realized with a breadth of personal history that demonstrates the horrors of slavery and colonization yet also reveals the strength and endurance of the human spirit. Although at times a bit hard to keep track of how everyone was related/connected to everyone else, it all came together so well in the end. Highly recommended!