Cover Image: Libertie

Libertie

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Member Reviews

This book moved along at a quick pace and at a distance from many of the characters. Things happened, people came and went and time passed by year by year. I thought it was one of the book's strengths.

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'He looked at me as if I was a wondrous being, as if my voice was a song, as if I was magic. And I did not want to disappoint him.'

Libertie is a novel set in New York during the Reconstruction era - Libertie is a free born Black woman set in a time where slavery was yet to be abolished. Her Mother is a physician and has trained Libertie from a young age and set her on a path to follow in her footsteps. The book looks at the mother-daughter relationship whilst also looking into themes of freedom, marriage, death and obviously the links to the history of slavery. There was a lot to unpack in this book, and it is hard to summarise it in a short review.

The prose in this novel was poetic and I was hooked from the first page. A compelling storyline which really had me emphasising with many of the characters. With links to Haitian mythology, it was really interesting to read. The cover is beautiful as well and I cannot wait to purchase the hardcopy!

Thanks to NetGalley and Serpents Tail for a ARC of this in exchange for an honest review.

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Libertie lives alone with her mother, a doctor, close to New York City, as the American Civil War is on the horizon. The book starts with her mother Cathy providing medical care and safety to an escaped slave Mr Ben.

Through Libertie’s eyes we see the impact of this work on the black community, the switch in focus of her mother and other women to support orphans who have escaped racist persecution in New York City before turning their support to those fighting in the war.

Libertie’s mother is determined that she will have a fruitful life and works hard to pass on her knowledge of medicine to her daughter, finding a way to send her to medical school. It is whilst there that Libertie realises that this isn’t the path that she wants.

The first half of the book is very different to the second. Whilst character focused, it is more plot driven and we regularly see the impact on Libertie of colourism as a dark skinned woman, in contrast to her mother who can pass.

The second half focuses on Libertie’s relationship with Emmanuel, who hails from Haiti which he believes will be a haven for black Americans. The plot here is much slower and whilst there is some evocative imagery of Haiti and a dive into mysticism, the pace is very different and I found it harder to engage with.

Overall an interesting read, but as it is very character, rather than plot driven, it didn’t keep me hooked.

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If ever there was a book of two halves, this is it.

Set before, during and after the American civil war, it tells the (life) story of Libertie and her relationship with her mother. Her mother is a doctor, a light skinned black woman who can pass as white(important in those days)while Libertie is dark skinned. Her mother treats the local black women but also some local white women. Libertie helps her but the white women don’t like her to be near them as she is too black.

Her mother dreams of Libertie making the most of her opportunities, she was born free(not a slave) and she wants her to follow in her footsteps. She sends her off to college to study medicine but Libertie always had a will of her own and soon finds she has little interest in medicine and tries to find something she loves and could be her calling. She gravitates towards music and neglects her studies and ends up failing her course and asked not to return.

She wants to hide this from her mother and the events that follow take up the second half of the book.

The first half of this was really interesting. The mother daughter relationship. The shocking racism that was the norm. The psychological toll of slavery, being black in those dark times. There was a really interesting cast of characters and stories as we looked at the world through the child’s eyes of Libertie.
Tension between daughter and mother is also a huge part of the first half and does run all the way through the book but from a distance in the second half.

Once Libertie leaves home and ultimately moves to Haiti with her new husband it feels like a different book and not for the better unfortunately. While the first half was interesting, multi faceted provocative, the second half was....well...a little tedious. Very little really happens. The book has such a seismic shift in tone that it feels completely disjointed. While the first half had me engaged I cared little for the characters in the second half. The book is a little over 300 pages but feels like a lot more.

Some really interesting, through provoking prose in the first half let down hugely by a tedious meander of a second half, there is certainly a lot here to enjoy and admire. It’s just frustrating that it goes left-field and for the worse.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Serpents Tail/Profile Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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"I am not sure I ever knew myself. I used to think this was a failing. Something to hide from you. How could I be a righteous woman, to serve the world as you did, if I did not know myself?"

Set during and after the American Civil War, Libertie follows its eponymous protagonist as she struggles to define herself and her own freedom. The freeborn daughter of one of America's earliest black female physicians, Libertie attempts to negotiate the expectations of those around her.

This was a lyrical and deeply character-driven historical novel which passed by quickly. Libertie's relationships with her mother Cathy, and later with Emmanuel, were rendered economically and with care. Greenidge negotiated heavy issues with a light touch. The series of vignettes in which we observe Libertie's development from a child at her mother's knee to a young woman unable to articulate her own freedom are beautifully handled, understated yet powerful.

An engaging and self-assured read.

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A vivid and thought-provoking historical novel, Libertie takes the theme of freedom and asks what it really means.

Structurally, it's a coming of age story, but Libertie is such a complex, confused protagonist that her journey isn't always quite as satisfying as it could have been. But I loved the realism of her character: Greenidge captures that uniquely teenage tendancy to strike out for yourself by hurting those you love. And for all her flaws, Libertie always has the self-awareness to recognise when her wounds are self-inflicted, which I felt made her a truly compelling main character.

Intelligent and absorbing, Libertie is a memorable read.

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The story of a very particular mother and daughter, which is centered on their relationship even though the journey moves to Haiti. Very much enjoyed, a quick read. the story of Libertie who grows up sheltered by her mother, a black doctor in a northern town near New York before the Civil War in the US. The novel has an edge of gothic, but is grounded and nuanced. Plainly questing, a novel that posits but does not answer questions about the nature of personal and political freedom. Like any good coming of age novel, left me wanting to follow Libertie into her future...

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“I saw my mother raise a man from the dead. “It still didn’t help him much, my love,” she told me. But I saw her do it all the same. That’s how I knew she was magic.”

This is an impressive historical novel offering an interesting reconstruction of the self-sufficient Weeksville free Black community, established in 1838 in Brooklyn. As reported by the author Kaitlyn Greenidge in an article called “Beyond the Talented Tenth”, the main character’s mother is modelled on Dr. Susan Smith McKinney Steward, daughter of a wealthy landowner in the community, first doctor in New York State and later co-founder of the Brooklyn Women’s Homeopathic Hospital and Dispensary. Her real-life daughter Anna married into a Haitian family whose patriarch was a local bishop but returned to New York after experiencing abuse.
In the novel we are in Brooklyn at the start of the Civil War, in a free community of African Americans, several of whom own land and, like Libertie and her mother, were born free. Libertie is the daughter of Doctor Cathy Samson, a homeopath and physician. Her practice is attended by white women as well, particularly when they have something embarrassing. We meet Doctor Samson as she “raises” Ben from the coffin in which he has escaped slavery. But can there be freedom like for an unhappy soul like Ben, who doesn’t seem to enjoy his newly acquired condition? Ben’s story is a leitmotif throughout the novel and is one of the many ways in which the author interrogates the notion of freedom and explores possibilities and constraints for African Americans, in particular women, in nineteenth-century America.

Libertie grows up with her widowed mother, whom she assists annotating in medical logs, collecting herbs and preparing ailments. Endowed with a stern personality, Cathy, who no one dares call anything but Doctor, is determined that her daughter should go to college and become a doctor herself, and all her efforts are directed toward this goal. This ideal is challenged in Libertie’s arid college year, essentially an experience of sexism, marginalisation and disconnection. Libertie’s quest for independence and self-determination continues as she moves to Haiti, which in the nineteenth century had become a “model” for independence and emancipation and had attracted a great number of African Americans. As she explores life in this country built on the promise of freedom, she will have to confront issues such as female subjection (we are told one of the few options to enjoy freedom is feign madness), patriarchal attitudes and the way power and control are reproduced.

The question of freedom and self-determination is the propulsive force behind the book and is explored in a nuanced way in different domains, both in the family/domestic realm and at a wider societal and historical level, by looking at places that were promising freedom and equality, i.e. progressive post Civil War New York and Haiti (Liberia, another land of freedom, also gets a mention, as Libertie is named after this country). The author’s multifaceted analysis highlights the obstacles and constraints that African Americans and women faced: despite apparent progressivism, episodes of racism, segregationism, sexism, classism and colourism still abound, as Libertie, with her dark skin tone inherited from her father, knows well.

In addition, Greenidge does a very good job scrutinizing the values of the newly established African American bourgeoisie, in particular the notion of the Talented Tenth (divulged by Du Bois among others), according to which African Americans of talent have an obligation to pursue an education for the greater good of society. This tenet dominates the tense mother and daughter relationship as Libertie’s character, complex and flawed, defies this notion: she defines herself as lazy, recurs to subterfuges, and we often see her questioning, doubting, and erring while trying to find her way, constantly longing for integrity as well as affection and connection. While this is well developed at the start, some parts, mostly the Haitian section, are less well executed and feel a bit disjointed and the character less rounded. But overall an excellent novel.

I am grateful to the publisher for an ARC of this book via NetGalley.

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A woman named Libertie in search of what it means to be free. Freeborn in mid-19th century Brooklyn, she grapples with what freedom means for Black people, but also for women, and for herself as the daughter of a woman who desperately wants her to follow in her footsteps.

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This was such a compelling read. It really had so many layers of interest going on! First of all, there is the struggle for freedom which comes from growing up Black during and after the days of the American civil war; then there is the struggle for freedom as a woman, with all the expectation and lack of freedom that that also entailed at this time; and finally, Libertie also has a struggle in the relationship she has with her mother, for independence and freedoms of choice. Libertie’s mother, Cathy, is an inspiring and driven woman, one of the driving forces behind the founding of a hospital for Black Americans after the American civil war, and she has big dreams for her only daughter to join her and have a medical career, something that she had fought hard for herself. But Libertie’s passions and interests lie in other fields, and try as she might to live up to her mother’s expectations, she can’t seem to work up the necessary motivation, instead being inspired by music. There’s a wedge of misunderstanding and silence between Libertie and Cathy which drives them apart, despite all of the love they share for one another, and because Cathy has been so afraid of the fierce love she feels for her daughter that she has barely allowed herself to show it. The latter half of the novel sees Libertie marry and move to Haiti, but the driving force of the novel is still in the relationship between mother and daughter, and it was great to see them begin to understand each other more. I thought the ending was really powerful, too.

My thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher, Serpent’s Tail, for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Coming of age as a free-born Black girl in Reconstruction-era Brooklyn, Libertie Sampson was all too aware that her purposeful mother, a practising physician, had a vision for their future together: Libertie would go to medical school and practice alongside her. But Libertie, drawn more to music than science, feels stifled by her mother’s choices and is hungry for something else—is there really only one way to have an autonomous life? And she is constantly reminded that, unlike her mother, who can pass, Libertie has skin that is too dark.

This breathtaking novel is both a mother and daughter story as well as historical fiction. The book is written from Libertie's perspective, you soon find her voice and thoughts soothing and come to understand her homoeopathic physician mother's complicated involvement in helping enslaved people find freedom while raising Libertie singlehandedly.

I found myself wanting more for Libertie, I wanted her to fight for her freedom more and exercise her right to claim in making major life choices. This book will stick with me for a while and I can't wait to talk with people about it when it's published.

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“I saw my mother raise a man from the dead. It still didn't help him much, my love, she told me. But I saw her do it all the same. That's how I knew she was magic.”


I was hooked by Libertie's opening paragraph. Set during and after the American Civil War Kaitlyn Greenidge's novel is narrated by Libertie the daughter of a Black female doctor. As the child of a free-woman Libertie is born free at a time when slavery was yet to be abolished. But whereas Libertie's mother, who is a light-skinned woman and was able to study medicine by 'passing', Libertie herself is dark-skinned, and because of this experiences both racism and the prejudices of those who are 'colorstruck'. Cathy, although not a demonstrative mother, clearly cares about Libertie and has trained her since a young age in the medical arts. But, as Libertie discovers, some conditions and or people cannot be cured. When one of her mother's patients, a man Libertie had grown fond of, fails to recover, Libertie begins to question her mother's abilities and grows increasingly disillusioned by her profession. Sensing her daughter's detachment, Cathy enrolls Libertie at Cunningham College in Ohio where she will be the only female medical student. Libertie, who by this point had already begun to chafe against her mother's expectations, is far more drawn by the music department, and in particular, by the voices of Louisa and Experience, also knows as the Graces.

“Music at night, music after dark, music finding its way to you across sweetgrass, can feel almost like magic.”


Libertie longs to belong to them, but, in spite of her attempts to form a friendship with the Graces, the bond between the two women is impenetrable. Greenidge's articulates Libertie's loneliness and yearning with lyric precision. It was easy to understand and sympathize with Libertie, her wish to be free of other people's visions of who she should be. We also understand how complex her relationship with her mother is: having grown without a father or other relatives Cathy is everything to Libertie.
I found this first half of the novel to be but poignant and engaging. Greenidge does not shy away from discussing the horrors of slavery, racism, colorism, or sexism. Yet, her narrative does not dwell on pain and suffering. There are many moments of beauty and empathy, and I found Libertie's voice to be utterly captivating.
The latter half of the novel is where things get a bit messy. Libertie becomes entangled with Emmanuel, a young man from Haiti. While their first interactions had both chemistry and potential, their romance happens way too fast. Libertie's feelings toward Emmanuel aren't clearly addressed, which was weird since up to that point readers were privy to her innermost feelings and or thoughts. And then, bam, all of a sudden Libertie is in Haiti with Emmanuel and things there take a vaguely Jane Eyresque turn. While the descriptions of Haiti, from its history to its physical landscapes, were vivid, and there were many thought-provoking discussions on religion and culture, I remained unconvinced by Libertie's motivations to move there. I wish the story had kept its focus on her and Cathy or her and the Graces, as I did not really feel the 'love' between her and Emmanuel. Their relationship was rushed and once in Haiti it never truly develops or progresses. His family drama steals the limelight, and although it did allow the narrative to touch upon some compelling issues, I just could not bring myself to believe in Libertie or Emmanuel's motives. Cathy's mother's presence is relegated once more to letters that Libertie chooses not answer. The finale was both predictable and left a few too many questions unanswered.
Nevertheless, I truly enjoyed Greenidge's writing. I found the inclusion of poetry, music, and fragments from Libertie/Cathy's letters added a layer of depth to the story.
While I wasn't blown away by the latter half of the novel nor its conclusion I would still recommend this as it is written in lyrical prose and it presents readers with a nuanced mother-daughter relationship while also delving into America's history, racism, colorism, sexism, grief, and, as the title and heroine's name suggest, freedom.

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Historical fiction with black protagonist. Super interesting to me. Especially as it was about the free black part of society. I liked how the characters evolved from the start to the end of the book.

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