On the brink of the Civil War, young abolitionist Mary Willis is helping within the Underground Railroad. Runaway slave Joe Bell tries to take charge of his life. Mary's brother Leander is dreaming about having the time of his life. War is going to touch them all.

Solid 3 stars for the good writing skills and the ability to describe the world of this novel and its inhabitants well. Also the historical background is obviously well researched. But unfortunately the plotting is uneven, as if the author couldn't decide which story to tell and how deeply - as a result we have many subplots and no real direction of where the story is going. Which is a pity, because Mary's story deserves to be told.

Released in 2017 this is Daren Wang's debut bringing to light another glimpse into the Underground Railway.

The Hidden Light of Northern Fires is told from multiple pov's, which when done right can be wonderful. But for some, it can be distracting and confusing at times. This book fits right in the middle, there were times I had to stop and think who was who, where they were and which side they were on. The characters themselves I found interesting, getting the different perspectives, the reasoning and such opened my eyes a little wider to this time in history.

I think it was the location that really drew me in, especially the latter half of the book where some of the action happened literally in my backyard - who doesn't love to read local history?

All in all a solid debut with a gorgeous cover.

My thanks to St. Martin's Press for a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book. I really enjoy reading historical novels based on a true event or person. Daren Wang did an excellent job of weaving fact with fiction. The story was told well through believable characters and events. I highly recommend this book as a must read.

Having grown up in Alden, NY, I was fascinated to learn of my small town and area’s history — that I was never taught in school. This should be a must read for WNY education.

I am not generally a fan of American historical fiction...I just don't care that much about reading about a shitstorm that is American history. But the synopsis was really interesting. And having an escaped slave and a woman as main character in the time the book is set in? Interesting!

It is happening during the Civil War and honestly, I don't know that much about it, mostly what I learnt from books I've read.

All in all, this was a good book, and I enjoyed it!

I’ve just been drawn to historical fiction, & this was a true learning experience. If Civil War History had been taught using this, fiction based on a diary, I might’ve become a history buff. Highly enjoyable, educational, & well-written, Mr. Wang! I’ll read your next books too.

Daren Wang's engaging novel will impress any fan of historical fiction, as it illustrates the intersectional nature of civil rights, by covering the oppression of both women and black people well!

Town Line is an obscure place, just outside Buffalo and close the the Canadian border, but as the American Civil War develops Town Line becomes the only Secessionist town north of the Mason-Dixon Line. Mary does not fit in to Town Line, she is the educated daughter of a farmer but has to run the family home whilst her brother Leander runs wild. She becomes involved in the Underground Railroad, helping escaped slaves flee to Canada. When an injured runaway is hidden by Mary, her entire network is imperilled and this act sows the seeds for danger and heartache for all concerned as the war rages far to the south.

The setting of this book is really interesting as the plot is a little too messy to be completely believable. That's not to say that I didn't really love the book but it felt very much at the 'fiction' end of 'historical fiction'! The horrors of slavery are well-represented and the power of family ties looms large, I particularly liked the desperation of Yates. Politically there are a lot of good points here and especially the idea that although Southern States were pro-slavery and Northern States less so, that was not a view held by Walland there are shades of grey in all conflicts.

When you stop to think about the fact that the events in this story are based on historical fiction, it just makes it all the more incredible.

I received this ARC from netgalley.com in exchange for a review.

School educated Mary Willis has always been an outcast, an outspoken abolitionist woman in a town of bounty hunters and anti-Union farmers. Helping runaways is the only thing that makes her life in Town Line bearable.

The story is told from multiple perspectives and gave a good view of people and the political opinions of the time. I felt the story dragged in some places but overall a good read.

3.5☆ rounded up to 4☆

An excellent debut of historical fiction. Told from multiple perspectives, the story seemed authentic; I could feel the tension of time and place. Whenever runaway slave Joe Bell and activist Mary Willis were actively in the story, I was especially captivated. They were brave, loyal, smart and likable. I was also impressed by the depiction of other characters as well, even the unlikeable ones like Yates and Leander, their human flaws and transformations well-done. A thought-challenging and sobering reminder of the Civil War and why it became a necessary part of history.

What I liked: I feel as if the author did a lot of research to bring this period of our history to life. There are details about how people lived and how they felt told from both sides before and during the war. The characters are vivid due to the details of how they thought and acted.

One thing that I found interesting was that the author portrayed two of the most relevant characters: the son of a Southern man and the son of a Northern man as scoundrels. While the one man remained a scoundrel throughout the book, the other was shown to have grown and his viewpoint changed as the story progressed. He was my favorite character; however, I did not particularly like most of the people in this book. The main character, Mary, seemed to be cold, and most of the others had their own agendas, and a lot of them weren’t very nice people.

What I didn’t like: I am frustrated with how many authors feel they have to use curse words in their writing. I don’t want to read this in every book I pick up. I especially don’t want to see that the author felt it necessary to use ones with God and Jesus. I don’t want to talk like that; I don’t think most of us do, and I can’t help but wonder how this constant exposure affects our speech. I would enjoy current books much more if they left the cursing out and found a better way to SHOW through the character’s actions when they are irritated, angry, and frustrated rather than just throw in some curse words.


The book is well written, and if you enjoy historical novels, this might be a good choice for you if you do not mind the cursing throughout.

While an interesting take on a little -known aspect of the Civil War, a southern- sympathizing town firmly in the north, the most interesting perspective was that of Mary, and the perspective of so many others seemed to take away rather than add to the strength of the story.

If there’s a subgenre of historic fiction that I find difficult to turn down, it’s historic fiction set during the American Civil War. There were so many factors at play with consequences rippling through so many groups of people in so many places and so many ways that I don’t think we’ll ever run out of stories to tell about that period of American history. The sheer size and scope of it also makes it difficult to tackle in a novel and trying to engage with too many angles of it at once can be a mistake. There is so much in Daren Wang’s The Hidden Light of Northern Fires that is done well, but I found the novel as a whole to be underwhelming and I think that this is the culprit—plots with great promise that went underdeveloped because there were simply too many of them.

The town of Town Line in New York is near Buffalo but along the border with Canada. This means that the town is home to many slave hunters who make a living catching escaped slaves when they’re just steps away from freedom. But not everyone in town looks fondly on the practice, least of all Mary Willis whose father essentially founded the town and whose sawmill built most of it as well. When an escaped man called Joe turns up in their barn half dead, she calls on the doctor and helps to first heal then conceal the man from the men who would capture Joe and return him south. Tensions in the town rise when the war begins as many young men head off to fight for the Union where others have ties to the Confederacy.

The threads of plot that run through the novel do all connect in one way or another on the surface but when it comes to the themes underpinning the story, they’re a bit too scattered for anything to resonate with much strength. The sheer number of characters and their perspectives were spoke to the scope of the story undertaken but prevented the novel from achieving the depth necessary for thorough engagement. It was easy to feel like I was reading a detailed outline of plot points rather than a fully developed novel—a series of vignettes perhaps, but one where the underlying connective threads are informed rather then substantive.

Time passes too quickly and with too much jumping around narratively for the various arcs of character development to work cleanly. The level of interiority provided in the text gestures in predictable directions but with such large gaps between seeing some of these characters, it must be taken as given that they’ve undergone significant changes of heart “off-screen.” While it’s a leap that can be made, it isn’t necessarily a comfortable one (or in some cases, a convincing one).

Perhaps it is because I found several of the threads quite promising that I found myself disappointed in the novel as a whole. It felt like it couldn’t make up its mind about where to narrow its focus and so remained scattered; never directly about anything but indirectly about everything.

The Hidden Light of Northern Fires will be available for purchase tomorrow, August 29, 2017.

As an avid fan of the Decatur Book Festival, I was excited to pick up this debut novel by Daren Wang, the founder and 12 year CEO of the nation's largest independent book festival. Wang comes from a background of administration, not writing and, I have read that for years, he tried to take the spark for this novel and give it to another writer to develop. Instead, he took his through research and wrote a lovely novel about the American civil war. Wang grew up in Upstate New York in a house that was a converted barn and part of a larger property. This barn was a stop on the historical Underground Railroad. When Wang learned of this history, he researched the house and it's inhabitants and, ultimately, wrote with lovely prose this driving epic of the civil war centered around the house he grew up in. A very satisfying read which I recommend to a wide audience.

Lovely historical fiction that looks at a niche aspect of the Civil War- a northern town that seceded. While some of the plot might seem predictable, Wang has created a wonderful character in Mary, who defies convention and expectations as 23 year old college graduate, who works to assist runaway slaves. Her voice echoes through the book. Others, especially Joe, who Is the linchpin of the tale, are equally well drawn. There's a terrific sense of place, as well as of time, in this nicely written novel. I've read many books set during the Civil War; this one is a standout not only because it's different but also because it's got a huge heart. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Highly recommend this to fans of historical fiction. This is a terrific debut- I'm very much looking forward to more from Wang.

I received a free electronic copy of this historical novel from Netgalley, Daren Wang, and St. Martin's Press - Thomas Dunn Books in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me.

This is an excellent Civil War historical novel, told from a very unique viewpoint. Daren Wang tells his story from the perspective of a farmer's daughter from Town Line in upstate New York, a slave fleeing his home and family near Harper's Ferry, and an escaped boy from the orphan train traveling through upper New York on it's way to drop him off in Cincinnati. There are of course many other protagonists, but these three carry the tale and tell it very well from 1861 through the assassination of President Lincoln. This is a book I will cherish, happily recommend and want to read again.

I love learning the seed of a story, the spark, the idea, the one thing that moves an author to write a story. Sometimes I come across this in an author interview but I like it best when it is told upfront at the beginning of the book, as it was in this case. That the author lived in the house where Mary Willis lived and that he felt he had to tell her story really drew me in . Even though, this is a fictionalized interpretation, I really appreciate that it is based on a real woman, a fervent abolitionist who lived in a house in a place called Town Line, NY. That this place is less than an hour and a half from where I live but who knew that a place this far north would actually secede from the United States? (https://search.proquest.com/openview/b7dbbc0fd682bdd89db4d5f8b23fb330/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1820942)

All of that aside, it's a work of fiction but it conveys the events and the atmosphere of the time in history just before and during the Civil War. Runaway slaves, slave hunters and the brave people who made up the Underground Railroad are at the center of this story. Mary Willis, strong willed, intelligent is not going to settle for being a someone's wife with no life of her own. Returning home after college, she's restless, searching for that something that will give meaning to her life. A sincere desire to do something important leads her to the Abolitionist movement, and she becomes an important link in the Underground Railroad moving runaways into Canada. She couldn't have known that crossing paths with Joe Bell, a runaway slave would change her life in ways she never imagined. It also about family, about relationships of fathers and sons and daughters, even the illegitimate ones. It's certainly about racism and the blight on this country, the history of slavery. A cast of characters both good and evil, a page turning plot - a great debut effort. Overall 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars .

I received an advanced copy of this book from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley.

This book reminded me of Lonesome Dove, but set during the Civil War period. You will love and hate the characters of this book. Mary, makes the decision to help a run away slave. A decision that will have a lasting impact on her family. Her brother Leander, the most popular boy in town, leads his friends to war. A decision that will haunt him for the rest of his life. Each chapter switches between a handful of characters, and reader's see the story from many different view points. This is a story of love, regret, coming of age, and overcoming our pasts.

”’How did he become president when so few people voted for him? Did he cheat? Did he steal the election? I don’t know, but the question must be asked.’ He stood in front of a farmer missing his front teeth. ‘What do you think, Klaus?’ The farmer looked around, surprised to be addressed. ‘Maybe,’ he said. ‘We might never know,’ the preacher said. ‘I do not believe he is our real president. He is not my president. Is he yours?’”

This story begins around the time of the hanging of abolitionist John Brown, who led a raid on the federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia in order to liberate the slaves there. Tensions escalated, leading to John Brown being hanged in Charles Town, Virginia, 02 Dec 1859. Later on, 20 June, 1863, West Virginia began the Secessionist Convention that eventually resulted in its breaking away from the Confederate state of Virginia, but at this point in time, there was no “West” Virginia, only Virginia.

The year is 1861, and the voting citizens of Town Line, New York have informally gathered, 125 white men, to discuss a resolution to secede from the United States. A resolution to secede is passed by a vote of 85 to 40. This unincorporated community, a hamlet, in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls Metro area is close to Canada, so some fled to live in Canada, five joined the Conferacy on the other side of the Mason-Dixon line in Northern Virginia, and 20 men left to fight for the Union.

Legally, this resolution to secede had no effect, and was never recognized by either the Union or the Confederacy in any formal sense.

All of this is recognized historically as accurate despite there being no written records, but the town lived with this status until 24 January 1946, when they voted to rejoin the Union. The vote was 90 to 23 to rescind the previous vote, although they had a vote not long before that that failed to reach this conclusion. But 1946 was a different year, when pride was high in the returning warriors from WWII, and those who had fought wanted their recognition for having fought for the country they at least thought they were a part of until they were informed otherwise.

Mary Willis is a young, unmarried woman, by our more modern definitions, but was considered a “spinster” in those days, having reached the nearly ancient age of 23 without landing a husband, not that she saw herself that way. She was, after all, educated, well read and opinionated. In her effort to pursue a more fulfilling life, she receives an advanced education on the ways of the secret routes and safe houses of the Underground Railroad.

Joe Bell was a slave, although technically freed by his owner, the owner’s son is dedicated to hunting him down and making him pay – one way or another. Mary, of course, is more dedicated to protecting him at all costs.

Yates Bell, the son of Joe Bell’s former owner, is out to retrieve Joe and haul him back to Harper’s Ferry, despite his father, to prevent his own ruination.

Leander Willis, brother to Mary, has only one goal: pleasure. He is lazy, but even when he can manage to motivate himself to perform some grand gesture; its sole purpose is to garner praise for him.

Charles Webster, neighbor and family friend, who quietly pines after the woman he loves from afar.
Friends will betray friends, loyalties are questioned over and over, while grand, noble ideals are met with the glaring truth of the way things are, a country and a people divided over what is right and what is wrong.

Maybe my hopes or expectations were too high, but I didn’t connect to this as much as I’d hoped, although the writing is often lovely and the premise of this debut novel interesting and unique. However, the characters of Joe Bell and Mary Willis did stand out above the rest and were wonderful, complex, characters, I felt their passion in their beliefs, their hopes for a better future, someday.

”To wake to that perfect white blanket covering the fields, the whole world made new overnight. It’s then that you know God forgives, that there’s mercy in this world.”

Daren Wang, the author, is the Executive Director of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival, has some obvious experience with our favourite topic – books! I look forward to reading more from him in the future.

”None have freedom until all do”


Pub Date: 29 Aug 2017

Many thanks for the ARC provided by St. Martin's Press!