WINNER OF THE ATWOOD GIBSON WRITERS'' TRUST FICTION PRIZE 2023 SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2023 AMAZON CANADA FIRST NOVEL AWARD COSMOPOLITAN''S 10 BEST HISTORICAL FICTION BOOKS OF 2023 ''Fresh and propulsive . . . a veneration of those whose tales are often forgotten'' New York Times ''A mesmerizing, lyrical testament to the power of storytelling'' Atwood Gibson Writer''s Trust Fiction Prize judges Freedom, you can''t get and bury, and keep it and keep it so it won''t ever go away No, child. You got to swing your freedom like a club. In 1859, deep in the forests of Canada, an elderly woman sits behind bars. She came to Dunmore via the Underground Railroad to escape enslavement, but an American bounty hunter tracked her downNow she''s in jail for killing him, and the fragile peace of Dunmore, a town settled by people fleeing the American south, hangs by a thread. Lensinda Martin, a smart young reporter, wants to gather the woman''s testimony before she can be condemned, but the old woman