Freedom Dues
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
Winner of the 2021 Gold IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award, Historical Fiction category.
1729: Blair Eakins is a fifteen-year-old Ulster-Scot living in Ireland under the crushing weight of famine, poverty, and prejudice against his people. In search of a better future for himself and his beloved, he pays for passage to the American colonies the only way he can: he commits himself as an indentured servant for a term of four years, having no idea what he's in for. His rough ocean crossing is only the beginning of a new life of hardships in Philadelphia.
In London, ten-year-old orphan pickpocket Mallie Ambrose is arrested for stealing a handkerchief. After experiencing the horror of Newgate prison, she is sentenced to "Transportation," bound into indentured servitude and exiled to the American colonies. Once in Maryland, she is sold to a tyrannical tobacco planter for seven years.
As Blair and Mallie each endure hellish conditions, their paths eventually cross when they are acquired by the same owner. After Blair steps in to defend Mallie from their cruel master, the two escape and head west, finding unlikely allies among the Delaware Indians. But as fugitives without rights, they live in constant fear of capture.
Indra Zuno vividly portrays the terror and injustice of indentured servitude in pre-Revolutionary War America while championing the indomitable spirits of two strong survivors who struggle against monumental odds to find the freedom to love each other and control their own destiny.
KIRKUS REVIEW
Zuno’s novel is a splendid historical epic with complex characters and richly drawn settings…The nuanced, well-developed narrative spans nearly a decade as it follows Mallie’s and Blair’s journeys to America and the difficult circumstances of their lives as indentured servants. The author’s sturdy, workmanlike prose perfectly captures the joys and sorrows of the protagonists as they struggle to build new lives in America…An accomplished and stirring tale from a promising new author of historical fiction.
BLUEINK REVIEW
…this well-crafted blend of research, characterization, and moving story progression should appeal to those drawn to entertaining, believable, historical fiction.
CLARION REVIEW
Enlivened by captivating historical details, Freedom Dues is a riveting coming-of-age love story.
Customer Reviews
Great, authentic story of the early 18th Century
Fellow fans of historical fiction, Indra Zuno’s “Freedom Dues” should be your next read. The synopsis on Blue Ink and Kirkus are excellent, so I won’t add one here.
What struck me most about “Freedom Dues” is the authenticity of the characters and the story and the author’s unflinching take on the conditions in which they live. Zuno uses a dual protagonist structure that enables her to reveal the stark conditions that the 99% of the early 18th century faced. From plague infested cells in Newgate prison and the cramped holds of the transport ships to the catch 22’s of indentured servitude in the colonies, the author crafts characters that rise to face these challenges and ultimately find a way to thrive.
If, like me, you enjoy the ‘Upstairs’ historical fiction of Mantell and Follett, you will be gripped by the pluck of the hero and heroine of this ‘downstairs’ story of adventure, hardship and ultimately love.