Willow
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
In 1848, an educated slave girl faces an inconceivable choice — between bondage and freedom, family and love. On one side of the Mason-Dixon Line lives fifteen-year-old Willow, her master’s favorite servant. She’s been taught to read and has learned to write. She believes her master is good to her and fears the rebel slave runaways. On the other side of the line is seventeen-year-old Cato, a black man, free born. It’s his personal mission to sneak as many fugitive slaves to freedom as he can. Willow’s and Cato’s lives are about to intersect, with life-changing consequences for both of them. Tonya Cherie Hegamin’s moving coming-of-age story is a poignant meditation on the many ways a person can be enslaved, and the force of will needed to be truly emancipated.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A solid historical foundation, strong characterizations, and lyrical descriptions highlight Hegamin's rich novel about slavery and black/white relations before the Civil War. Set in 1848 on the border of the Mason-Dixon line, the story follows two black teenagers: a motherless 15-year-old slave, Willow, and an educated 17-year-old freeborn boy, Cato, passionate about helping fugitive slaves. Eventually their paths cross, but even then the focus remains strongly on Willow and her struggle between being a devoted daughter and fifth-generation slave on Knotwild Plantation and her hunger for education. Willow is taught to read and write by the fair-minded and kind master, Reverend Jeffries, and her poetic voice resonates from the opening pages: "The tree bowed to the edge of the river in such a polite way that it looked as though the tree were asking the river for a waltz." Hegamin (M+O 4EVR) creates a broad spectrum of believable black characters, while white roles (excepting Rev Jeff) are relatively minor and rarely sympathetic. Tension and suspense infuse the book, but build most effectively in the final scenes, when freedom seems unattainable. Engrossing and educational. Ages 14 up.
