Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an impartial review. If you are interested in the Underground Railway and the people who aided slaves to escape tyranny in brave and clever ways, this book is for you.
Apart from the frequent typos, which became distracting after a while, this book is extremely written. Although it's a fictionalised account, it combines plenty of fact to satisfy historians. It's a great novel about a part of history I knew nothing about.

An ok read on the Underground Railroad. As I did enjoy the book, I was looking for a bit more. Good research on slavery, and the subject matter. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publsher for the ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

An exceptionally well written read about the underground railroad and those involved with it.
There is a lot to take in with this read and those involved with the release of the slaves.
Such an excellent and we'll characterised book I am tongue tied and unable to describe it fully.
All I can say is ready it, it will be worth your time and effort.

This is a great story about the Underground Railroad. Over the years I have read many books dealing with this subject, some very vividly descriptive of the horror and others geared for a much younger audience. This book would be a good one for anyone over the age of 15 or 16. The characters working for the Underground Railroad vary from escaped slaves and freemen, to doctors, teachers, lawyers and simple farmers. The idea that even if the slaves were treated well, they were still prisoners emanates from this story. Of course the risks that both the slaves and those helping them escape took were immense and it could cost them both their lives. The fact that the females were okay to have relations with, but the children resulting from this were not only their offspring but still their property to sell or do what they wanted with. The main character of Jack Ruffin was an interesting character and of course this could actually have happened. He was actually 1/8 negro so could pass easily for white, especially with his adoptive parents being white and very respected in the community. He wasn't as strong physically as some of those he rescued, but he certainly was determined and loyal to the cause. Tracker, a freed black man was also integral to the story as well as Grace. You will see some famous names in this story as they also believed in the Underground Railroad. Overall, a very good story with a lot of details that were well researched. This would make a wonderful book to be read in a junior high classroom studying this period in time. A book that everyone should read to learn about this terrible time in history.

Highly recommend this novel of historical fiction. Well written, well researched, and a story of love. Set during the the most shameful time in American history.... 1860’s slavery. It tells the story of people who gained freedom with a price, people who faked who they were for survival, and the meaning of true love. A book for the ages. Kudos to the author.

The Underground Railroad, slave patrols to keep blacks in their place on the plantations of their owners, the struggle for freedom, all stand as the backdrop for this well written, fast paced novel. Very well researched and accurate.

This book was interesting and well researched. I enjoy reading about slavery during the Civil War and the Underground Railroad.
Pub Date 25 Jun 2017
Thank you to NetGalley and Cameron Publicity & Marketing Ltd for a review copy in exchange for my honest review.

I don’t know how to describe this book other than to say that it was very clinical. It should have been emotional, heart stopping, jaw clenching but it was not. I felt very little emotion from our main character, Jack. Certain chapters would begin with the story of someone else then suddenly would become about Jack. I found this very confusing. I realize that this is the first in a series of books, however, the way this book ended was very abrupt. It made absolutely no sense to me.

In all it as not a bad book but I found the writing style was not to my liking. I will not be reading any further books from this series.

Earlier this year, I read Colson Whitehead’s ’The Underground Railroad’, but it wasn’t about the story of the real Underground Railroad, not the one we learned about in history class.

Free Spirits: The Story of Jack Ruffin and the Underground Railroad is a story of the ‘real’ Underground Railroad, told mostly through the eyes and ears of Jack Ruffin, a West Point Cadet.

The story of Jack’s birth, the parents who raised him, and the story of the timing of his birth, and the birth of another child who doesn’t live. When the only father Jack has ever known dies, it is then he is told the truth of his birth. He realizes he must find his real mother – a slave – and find a way to rescue her from slavery.

Jack turns to the Underground Railroad in order to find a way to help his mother escape, and then Jack falls for a young woman, one of those working with the Underground Railroad to rescue people from slavery - Ellen Emerson, daughter of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Over time they learn to trust each other with their stories.

This is the first in a series covering the history of America and slavery from before the Civil War to Reconstruction, and to Redemption, and then Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. It also is the first book from the new publisher – VICKSBURG PRESS.

I liked this, but I didn’t love it. There was a lot of ‘telling’ and not enough ‘showing,’ so I felt emotionally removed from a story that should have grabbed hold of my heart, but I did enjoy this story, and I hope the next is even better.


Published: 25 JUN 2017

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Cameron Publicity & Marketing Ltd and VICKSBURG PRESS.