Libertie
A Novel
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3.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The critically acclaimed and Whiting Award–winning
author of We Love You, Charlie Freeman returns with Libertie, an
unforgettable story about one young Black girl’s attempt to find a place
where she can be fully, and only, herself
Coming of age as a freeborn Black girl in Reconstruction-era Brooklyn, Libertie
Sampson is all too aware that her purposeful mother, a practising
physician, has a vision for their future together: Libertie is to go to
medical school and practise alongside her. But Libertie, drawn
more to music than science, feels stifled by her mother’s choices and
is hungry for something else—is there really only one way to have an
autonomous life? And she is constantly reminded that, unlike her
mother, who can pass, Libertie has skin that is too dark.
When a young man from Haiti proposes marriage and
promises Libertie she will be his equal on the island, she accepts, only
to discover that she is still subordinate to him and to all men. As she
tries to parse what freedom actually means for a Black woman,
Libertie struggles with where she might find it—for herself and for
generations to come.
Inspired by the life of one of the first Black female doctors in the
United States and rich with historical detail, Kaitlyn Greenidge’s new and
immersive novel will resonate with readers eager to understand our
present through a deep, moving and lyrical dive into our complicated past.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Greenidge (We Love You, Charlie Freeman) delivers another genius work of radical historical fiction. Libertie Sampson, a freeborn Black girl in Reconstruction-era Brooklyn, is pushed by her mother, a doctor, to follow in her footsteps. But Libertie, whose day-to-day experience differs from her mother due to her darker skin, is more interested in music and wants to follow her own path. In her poetic narration, she gives testimony to the injustices of white supremacy she witnesses and reflects on colorism, "colorstruck" misogyny, and the potential shackles of marriage, all the while turning over the question of what freedom is. When her mother insists on treating the same white women who recoil at Libertie's dark skin, she believes her mother "gave up co-conspirators for customers." Desperate to secure a future for Libertie, her mother sends her off to Cunningham College in Ohio, but Libertie turns away from her studies after she meets fellow students Experience and Louisa: "When I sang with them, my whole history fell away. There was no past, no promised future, only the present of one sustained note." After Libertie is kicked out of Cunningham, she schemes to bring Experience and Louisa to Brooklyn and sing for the Black community. But her road gets rockier, and a marriage proposal from a Haitian man brings mixed blessings, leading her to continue reflecting on the limits of freedom for a Black woman. This pièce de résistance is so immaculately orchestrated that each character, each setting, and each sentence sings.
