Libertie

336 Pages

Publisher: Algonquin Books

Release Date: March 30, 2021

Libertie sees her mother bring a man back from the dead or so she thinks. Really, the man was a slave being smuggled to a free area in New York. Her mother is the first Black woman doctor in the area. She is very light skinned and could pass as white. Libertie on the other hand is very dark like her father.

She helps her mother in the clinic and later at the hospital. She begins noticing how the whites and colors are treated differently and it bothers her. She feels her mother caters to the wealthy white women when she would be helping more colored women. You can feel the strain and tension building between mother and daughter throughout the book.

This book is inspired by the life of Susan Smith McKinney Steward, one of the first Black female doctors in the United States. The story has a steady pace and moves through Libertie’s life to young adulthood. It is written in first person point of view and the characters are developed. I enjoyed this book and a peek into the past. The book ends in a way that leaves it open to a possible sequel.