Lorene Cary

In 1855, a Southern slave abandons her child to obtain freedom. She is Ginnie of Virginia who escapes while with her master in Philadelphia. The novel portrays her hiding from slave catchers, agonizing over the son she left behind and reinventing herself as Mercer Grey to become a famous abolitionist. By the author of Black Ice.

A woman who abandoned her son faces the prospect of a reunion, while a young single mother hopes for a commitment from her boyfriend and a young man searches for answers about his parentage.