Libertie Sampson lives in Reconstruction-era Brooklyn with her mom, a practicing physician. The plan has always been for Libertie to go to medical school and then join her mother's practice, but as is often the case, that plan doesn't include input from Libertie herself. She wants to live her own life, be in charge of herself, and is drawn more to music than medicine. While her mother can pass for white, Libertie cannot, and faces a set of challenges a little different from her mother. She meets a man from Haiti who treats her as an intellectual equal, and falls in love. Libertie agrees to join him in Haiti, but when they arrive, their relationship changes and she is once again subject to someone else and subordinate to her husband. Libertie needs to figure out what freedom means for her, and what it can mean for her.
Greenidge took inspiration for Libertie from the history of one of the first Black female doctors in the United States. That inspiration gives a framework that could be just a retelling, yet this, Greenidge's second novel, is more than just historical fiction or a coming of age story. The bonds between characters are so strong and at the same time so complicated. The exploration of devotion, duty, expectation along side independence, dissent, and liberty move beyond this specific setting. Libertie was an excellent read. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. It was savored!

Libertie Sampson is the daughter of a black mother who is a practicing physician . Libertie is to follow her mothers path and attend medical school and work along with her mother. Libertie realizes music is her passion and feels she doesn't need to follow her mother, she'll make her own way. She takes a wrong turn with the wrong man and ends up far away from Brooklyn, in Haiti. The story comes from true events. Women's History Month! Thank you #NetGalley

Absolutely fantastic. The voice is exhilarating, the prose is a joy, the story is a thrill -- I liked CHARLIE FREEMAN but I *loved* this. Truly terrific.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early read of this book!

Libertie Sampson is a freeborn black girl in the mid 1800’s, living with her mother, who is the local doctor in their very rural Brooklyn neighborhood. Her mother heals the locals and is a helper on the underground railroad – she has raised Libertie to also become a doctor and join her. As she gets older, Libertie realizes that this might not be what she wants. But she does want to please her mother, so she goes off to her first year of college, where her mother’s reputation has enabled Libertie to study medicine with the men. She does not do well, with her studies, or with understanding what she wants out of life. When she returns home, she is afraid to tell her mother that she is not invited back for a second year. She meets her mother’s protégé, a young Haitian doctor named Emmanuel Chase. They quickly fall in love, or what Libertie thinks is love. They marry and he takes her to Haiti, where she feels unwelcome by his family but where she is expected to live her life.

The book has a lot of interesting themes. It takes place around the Civil War years – and there is a lot of tension in the black community – the resentment of former enslaved people against freeborn black people especially. Also, colorism is a problem. Libertie herself is very dark, while her mother, and later her husband & his family, could almost pass for white – leaving Libertie to always be known and described as the “Black Girl”. Another theme, which you might guess from the main character’s name, is freedom. Not only what it means to black people at that time, but also what it means to people in general – the freedom to make your own choices, to find your own way – this is Libertie’s biggest challenge, growing up a mother who has seemingly made those choices for her, and was not willing to let them go. This would be a great book club title.

Libertie's mother, Dr. Sampson, is a skilled doctor who also works to assist former slaves in getting to freedom. The book is loosely based on one of the first Black female doctors in the United States. Reading this history taught me a great deal.

As a child, Libertie struggles with getting her mother's attention, wanting to have it for herself rather than share with their larger community. And then the Civil War begins. Libertie's mother wishes for Libertie to achieve freedom in the same way that she has, as a doctor. But what will that look like as Libertie becomes an adult?

This book raises themes of what counts as freedom and what choices people, especially women, have. It raises questions about truth and secrets and power. Libertie's story is an incredibly thought-provoking one.

TW: racism, colorism, suicide

Thank you Algonquin Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is, unsurprisingly, a phenomenally written historical novel that immediately drew me in and kept me immersed through almost the entirety of the narrative. I usually don't enjoy historical fiction for a variety of reasons, but I knew any novel Greenidge wrote was likely to be an exception, and I was correct. I will say, though, that I preferred the first half of the novel, before Libertie meets her future husband Emmanuel. The ending of the novel wrapped everything up well, but the middle third when Libertie was trying (unsuccessfully) to subsume herself into her husband's ideals for her was...difficult to read, though I realize that was part of the point. The relationship between Libertie and her mother (and, to a lesser extent, Libertie and the Graces) was what kept me interested in this narrative world, along with the overall thematic meditation on care and the fraught ties that relationships (particularly mother-daughter relationships) create.

This is a unique story which tells the story of a girl maturing into a young woman mostly through her relationship with her mother. It explores issues of race, gender and expected roles. I liked the character of Libertie and enjoyed reading about the relationship with her mother (a physician). Greenidge does a nice job of painting scenes, describing characters and drawing the reader into a well created time and place. The character growth and changes in Libertie kept me wondering where the story would take me. I feel like the story arc ends in a satisfying way. The beauty of this book is in the eloquent writing.

3.5 stars

“I had seen so many people die from those same white people’s hatred that I could not muster any sympathy for their terror, and I could definitely not feel it on my own.”

The cover of Libertie is what drew me in and then I stayed for the story.

Libertie is the only child of a doctor who is female and Black, even though she is light enough she could ‘pass’ for white. Libertie is the opposite of her mother, darker in skin tone, and maybe not as sure that she wants to be a doctor like her mother desires. When given the opportunity to go to Haiti, she is eager to get away from the future that her mother has planned for her and hopeful that she will be received as an equal in a new place, not just as a woman.

Libertie’s growth and self-discovery journey are beautiful and I fell in love with her fighting spirit.

Thank you to Net Galley and Algonquin books for an advance digital copy in return for an honest review.

"Liberte" is a coming of age tale, as a free born black girl in New York, after the Civil war. The book revolves around Liberte's conflict with her physician mother who envisions their future differently. Libertie prefers music to science. Instead of finishing medical school and partnering with her mother, she runs off with a man to Haiti who makes promises he does not keep. This is a thought provoking book about what freedom is for a black woman. I highly recommend this impressive novel.

“The world can live in the palm of my hand. The world is in the burning between the thighs of the colored women who seek you out for comfort. The world is in the wounds on the heads of the fathers, and in the eyes we treated, burnt by smoke from the fires the white mobs set. I can measure the world. Can you?”

This lyrical fiction struggles with what it means to be truly free.

Libertie’s mother, who got into medical school by passing as white in pre-civil war America, thinks freedom is building a successful business with her daughter by her side. She helps escaping slaves, healing their bodies. But both she and Libertie are haunted by the ones they lost - escaped slaves who found their trauma too great to fully enter free life. But Libertie doesn’t want to work in the clinic, and at college, falls in with a group of artists. But she doesn’t quite fit there either. On the brink of failing school, Libertie meets a young, handsome Haitian doctor who sells her on a new free world he plans to build in Haiti. But when Libertie marries him and moves to Haiti, she finds that his promised new system is nothing but an illusion. Libertie must find the strength to build the life she wants for herself.

Greenidge masterfully weaves legend and lore into the story, adding depth to the themes of salvation, freedom, colorism, and family. Colorism is woven through the story, as Libertie’s mother is pale enough to “pass” as white, while Libertie is not, and the world treats her differently.

This is a character-driven story, with fallible characters who strive, fail and succeed. Libertie pulls away from her mother because of what she sees as her “monstrous need,” yet Libertie needs just as much from the universe. This book explores the ties between a mother and daughter with very different views of the world.

This is a masterpiece of literary fiction.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my opinion.

“Libertie” is a fascinating, detailed look at the late 19th century, initially in the home and community of a black woman physician in Kings County, Brooklyn, NY. Her daughter is expected to go to college and follow in her footsteps but, of course, there are numerous unexpected twists. I loved learning about this specific time period in history while immersing in this mesmerizing story.

I can only imagine that the ending will deviate from the original if there is a movie adaptation.

This book is rich with weighty themes and unusual situations - motherhood, family, freedom, coming of age, a black female physician in Reconstruction era New York City. It’s a fascinating, well-written piece of historical fiction and I enjoyed delving into the characters of Libertie and her mother, Cathy. The storytelling is rich and authentic, if somewhat slow-paced, and I did feel that it bogged down in places. This is a great choice for considering many of the issues of this historic period, particularly for black women.

I have to say I was first drawn to this book by that gorgeous cover but this novel is beautiful both inside and out. It explores strong themes of truth, the meaning of freedom and the complexities of mother-daughter relationships. It's somewhat a coming of age story as Libertie struggles to discover who she is and to find her own voice. Libertie's mother Cathy is based on the real life Dr. Susan Smith McKinney Steward, the first African American woman to earn a medical degree in New York state. This would make a great book club choice! There's lots to discuss.

This book was about Libertie, a young black slave who is the daughter of a black female doctor/gynecologist. She struggles between her mother wanting her to become an educated doctor and wanting to get out on her own to be who she wants to be. She meets a doctor doing an internship with her mother and runs away to Haiti with him.
The book was good for me until this part. It took a weird twist for me. You might love it and that is ok but I didn't feel it really followed a good solid storyline. I wanted to love the woman Libertie grew up to be. I wanted to see her help the people she found struggling in the story. I felt like many of the characters and story line was just something to fill up pages.
I was so excited to read this but it just didn't do anything for me.

Wow, there is so much to unpack with this book I don't even know where to start. I think the main themes were colorism, religion, and being lost.

But first I just want to point out that this  book idea is based on a real black female doctor in the late 1800s in New York.  Also, I think this is the first book that I have read about slavery times where the mental health of the people who were enslaved is discussed once they are freed.

I think the first part of this book really focuses of colorism as Libertie's Mom is really light and can pass as white but Libertie is dark. And a lot of it has to do with problems Libertie faces with her Mom's white patients and the way her mother doesn't stand up for her with them.

When Libertie gets to Haiti you really start seeing how religious superiority plays out in the way the Christians from the United States treat the Haitians and their religion.

But mostly you follow Libertie on this journey of finding herself. Through the entire book she is lost and looking for her place.

It was a really great book and I had a hard time putting it down.  I would recommend this to anyone.

This book is out March 30th. Thanks to Netgalley and Algonquin Books for the eARC.

Inspired by the life of one of America's first Black female doctors and her daughter, but original enough to stand on its own, this gorgeous novel is one you're not going to want to miss. Its heroine, Libertie Sampson, is the daughter of a Black female doctor in Reconstruction-era Brooklyn. Racism and colorism plague dark-skinned Libertie, while her mother and husband are able to pass as white. From her mother's medical practice to a prestigious college to her husband's estate in Haiti, Libertie struggles to find herself and to understand how she fits into her ambitious mother's idea of a strong woman and her dead father's vision of freedom. This novel is full of lush historical atmosphere and the slow realization of its characters, whom I loved and pitied in equal measure. The themes about womanhood, motherhood, family, and legacy are made more poignant by the recent history of slavery in the characters' past.

This was a really powerful novel whose experience was dulled for me due to the terrible quality of the review copy -- just make a mobi or ebook version that is easy to read, please! Whole words were missing, the format was off, and it was incredibly distracting. I think I'll attempt a reread when the actual version comes out.

I really wanted to like this book more. Unfortunately, the main character, Libertie’s listlessness, drove me nuts. I actually found her mother, Cathy, far more interesting a character— a somewhat socially awkward, free black female physician in Reconstruction era New York.

Libertie’s mother, Cathy, wants her to have the same freedoms she has had as a free black woman, but Libertie is far darker than her mother who “can pass” and is able to do many things like run her medical practice (which attends white women) and attend the theater—undertakings that are far more difficult for Libertie.

After a failed attempt at college, where Libertie found a greater love of music than medicine, she returns home to a light-skinned Haitian man Emmanuel studying under her mother. His tales of Haiti and the African Gods still worshipped there intrigue her as well as his proposal of a marriage based in equality, where she finally will have a say in her life. She accepts his proposal in hopes of finding her direction in a country run by Negroes and out of her mother’s shadow.

The stark differences between Libertie and Cathy set the stage for the author to highlight notions of race, gender, and freedom. The mother daughter relationship is an important one, and Libertie and Cathy’s is strained. Their awkwardness, both in person and in letters, serves to highlight heavier themes in a coming-of-age story.

The novel improved as I got further into it, or perhaps Libertie’s growth made me like her a little more as she sought direction in her life. I received a complimentary ebook of the novel. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. Thank you to Netgalley, Algonquin Books, and of course Katilyn Greenidge for the advanced copy.

I loved this brilliant and beautifully written book. It follows Libertie Sampson from girlhood to womanhood as she struggles with what it means to be free. If you enjoy contemplative, thought-provoking books, I highly recommend checking this one out.

I love the premise of the book and the theme of freedom and the diversity in meaning it can have for the characters in this novel, however the novel moved slowly. I enjoyed the settings and Civil War and Reconstruction time periods, as well as, the perspective of blacks on racism and classism during these time periods. Overall, the novel just fell short for me in pace, character development, depth of character relationship explanation, and the ending.
Thank you NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.