⛰ what it is about
Blair, from Ireland, and Mallie, from England, have to make their way on a ship to America to repay their debts. Conditions on the ship are awful, and it doesn’t get better in America.

🧠 thoughts
It was really hard to get into the book, the names, accents, and stories are really complex, and sometimes we jump in time and it confuses us more. The story is great though (even if really hard on those kids), but it was not for me.

My point of view on this is not relevant as I feel that it is a great book, but it was not a match for me.

🥰 who would like it?
I think you really need to love historical fiction in order to read this; the book is a gem of the kind. Also maybe know a little about Irish history.

Special thanks to NetGalley and **Spinning a Yarn Press** for sharing a copy of this book with me in exchange for an honest review.

In 1729 Irishman Blair Eakins and his brother sail to America in search of a better life. They pay their passage by signing up as indentured servants for four years. At a similar time, Londoner Mallie Ambrose is arrested for stealing and is sentenced to transportation to Maryland, also as an indentured servant, for seven years. Eventually their paths cross and they plan towards a life of freedom. This story has been well researched and the descriptions of the harsh lives they suffered felt very real. Excellent narration. Thank you to Indra Zuno, Net galley and Spinning a Yarn Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Indra Zuno’s book, Freedom Dues, is the perfect marriage of historical fiction and suspense. At every turn I’d become more engrossed in the challenges facing the main characters, Blair Eakins of Ireland and Mallie Ambrose of England. Their story’s told over nearly a decade of time in an alternating pattern.

It is evident in the rich details and complicated stories that Zuno took great care in researching what life was like for indentured servants in America during the early 1720s and 1730s. Though this story is a work of fiction, I felt like I learned more about how life used to be in the early development of the USA.

What I look for in stories I enjoy is the feeling of investment I have with the characters. The joy I feel when they triumph and the heartache when they hit hard times. Zuno delivered that and more through carefully crafted character development. With each chapter and as time passed her characters came to life in realistic, though heartbreaking at times, ways. Nothing every felt forced or stagnant.

I recommend Freedom Dues to anyone who loves historical fiction and suspense stories. This one surely packs the punch of suspense with the historical accuracy of a nonfiction story.

I was provided an ARC copy of Freedom Dues by Net Galley. My sincere gratitude to author, Indra Zuno, Spinning A Yarn Press and Net Galley for allowing me to read and review this book. My review was not influenced by that fact and are my own words, thoughts & feelings.

I love history but found this audiobook quite a challenge. I tried several times to get absorbed in it but finally gave in.
Nothing about it was a book for me. Sorry.

Indentured servants, unlawfully extended contracts, beatings, unwanted sexual encounters, this is what young Irish and British exiles experienced if they survived the tumultuous ocean crossing shackled in the bowels of a ship and landed in the British colonies of America.   White slavery was never discussed in my history classes in school and I'm grateful to Zuno's incredible saga to have enlightened me some 50 years later.

The narrator of this audiobook,  Sarah-Jane Drummey, helped bring Zuno's characters to life, causing the reader to build a relationship with them.  I found myself wincing when a character was whipped, I ached when they were abused, I felt happy for them when they reached a goal or enjoyed a happy moment.  

Extensive research was done in the writing of this book leaving no stone unturned.  It's a gripping historical novel and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to every chapter.  If you're looking for a great historical saga about white slavery in the British Colonies pick up this engrossing novel. 

My thanks to #NetGalley, Spinning Yarn Press, and the author for this ARC audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.

I struggled to get through this audiobook. I wasn't very intrigued by the characters or the story, so I slogged along for a while but ultimately did not finish, even when I sped up the playback speed to try to get through it faster. I usually love historical books but I just could not get into this one.

Freedom Dues by Indra Zuno was a very well written and well researched historical fiction novel. It captured the essence of the day to day lives and excessive hardships forced upon those in indentured servitude. It took place in the early 1700’s in Colonial America. I remember learning about this time in the history of the United States at various times in my education but I never remembered any historian detailing the abuse, prejudices, injustices, dreadful conditions that indentured servants were meant to work and live in or the brutal treatment they were forced to endure. Indra Zuno masterfully captured these details and left room for empathy and disgust. I listened to the audiobook that was well narrated by Sarah-Jane Drummey.

Blair Enkins, an Ulster Scot lad of fifteen, living in Ireland, had seen his share of poverty, famine and hardships. He had just lost his beloved father and knew that his future in Ireland was far from certain. Times were most difficult. Blair and his older brother Ronald knew that their only chance at securing a promising future was boarding a ship to America and working in indentured servitude for the four year term. It was hard to leave their widowed mother but both brothers enveloped their opportunity. For Blair, it also meant that he could continue to dream about a life with the young lass he had fallen in love with. Blair would serve his four year agreement and work hard so that after it was completed he could marry and bring his beloved to America. As the brothers boarded the ship headed for Philadelphia their optimism would be short lived. The trip to Philadelphia would be treacherous, sometimes humiliating and a taste for what was coming.


At the same time, Mallie Ambrose, a ten year old orphan girl was living in London and making a living as a pickpocket. Her luck at not being caught was about to expire. Mallie was caught stealing a handkerchief from a respectable gentleman. She was placed in Newgate Prison where the conditions were horrendous. Since it was Mallie’s first offense and she was so young, Mallie was sentenced to “Transportation”. That meant that Mallie would also lead a life in indentured servitude. Her sentence would take her to Maryland but because she had committed the crime of stealing, her term would be for seven years.

Both Mallie and Blair endured unspeakable conditions and witnessed acts of brutality, injustice and actions that angered them both. Mallie’s and Blair’s paths eventually crossed when they were bought by the same owner. There was an instant attraction between both of them. When Blair witnessed Mallie’s owner taking advantage of her, Blair stopped at.nothing to defend and protect Mallie. Would the two be able to escape the doom that their lives dictated for them by running away? Their fear was of being tracked and captured. They had no choice. As they ran to escape, there was no denying the love they felt for each other. Mallie and Blair received help from unexpected sources but their fear was always that they would be caught and meant to pay for their attempt of running away.

The characters in Freedom Dues were captivating and complex. There were twists, and turns that kept me listening way after I should have stopped. As soon as I started listening to Freedom Dues I was hooked. It was a very moving yet disturbing story based on facts. I admired the strength and courage these characters portrayed. I really enjoyed listening to Freedom Dues by Indra Zuno and highly recommend it.

Thank you to Spinning a Yarn Press for giving me the opportunity to listen to the audiobook of Freedom Dues by Indra Zuno through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Freedom Dues is a historical fiction novel about indentured Irish and Scottish indentured servants who are sent to America to serve out their servitude. The book was very well researched and the narrator did well capturing all the characters. I did find it a bit plodding at times, but overall very enjoyable.

Indentured

In 1729 Ireland times are hard and even harder for the protestant Scotch-Irish in a predominate Catholic society. Blair Eakins and his brother Ronald pay for passage to America by becoming indentured servants for a term of four years. Not knowing when they left Ireland what they were getting into in America as indentured servants.

In London a young ten year old pickpocket Mallie Ambrose is arrested for stealing a handkerchief and sentenced to transportation to Maryland as an indentured servant for 7 years. In the story between masters and in passing Blair and Mallie get to know each other.

The story is of the hellish life of the indentured servant in the 1700's in colonial America. They are treated the same or sometimes worse than slaves. The masters take liberties with the female servants and they have no way to prevent the abuse. If they become pregnant their child is indentured to the master until they are 21 and the servant is beaten with the whip. The indentured servant are beaten with the whip for any small error. When they cause the master to become angry with them or if they try to escape they are not only beaten, but time is added to their indentured time, thus through small little life occurrences they can become unpaid slaves for way longer than their original period and sometimes for life. Some didn't last that long as they died in servitude.

It is a hard life, but the few that survive and make a life for themselves find it worth it . This is a story of two of those servants and the events that happened in their servitude.
It is rather sad and not a lot is written about in our history books, but it should have been. These people truly were in slavery to their masters.

I learned much from this book, I had heard of indentured servants before, but not much about their actual lives as servants. It was not a pretty picture. It is a part of history and needs to be remembered. I would recommend this book.

Thanks to Indra Zuno for writing an informative story about a time in history, to Sarah-Jane Drummey for her wonderful narration of the audio book , to Spinning a Yarn Press for publishing it and to NetGalley for making it available to me.

An EPIC novel about the indentured servants that were sent from England usually Irish and Scottish to the colonies to serve out sentences. The books tells of the horrors on the passage over as well as the treatment once arriving. These indentured are on the same level of slaves essentially struggling to serve out many unreasonable sentences. The author alternates between two points of view, one of young girl caught up in the draconian legal system of early 1700s England which would execute people for pickpocketing a handkerchief worth 10 pence, and gives her the more merciful sentence of transportation to the American colonies to serve several years on a plantation; the other viewpoint is of an adolescent boy in Ireland of Scottish Protestant descent joining his brother in signing papers of indenture to work off their passages in the colony of Pennsylvania. Another wonderful historical fiction book. Thanks to Netgalley I am able to review the novel in audiobook format. The narrator did a fantastic job with the accents. At times I was close to tears hearing about what our ancestors had to endure in order for us to live in America, overcoming destitution and slavery.

Thanks to netgalley, the author and publisher for the ARC

Another wonderful historical fiction book. Thanks to Netgalley I am able to review the novel in audiobook format. The narrator did a fantastic job with the accents. At times I was close to tears hearing about what our ancestors had to endure in order for us to live in America, overcoming destitution and slavery.

I really enjoyed this book. A lot of interesting characters and a very troubling story about slavery. The author was able to convey what slaves had to endure through this awful episode which made me sadden over and over. This book kept me engaged till the last page. I can definitely recommend reading it.

I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook. The book is well written and really draws you into this era. The author did a fantastic job of weaving together the lives of these characters and carries you through their tales of love and loss; determination and fear; triumphs and tragedies.

This is a heart wrenching story following several Scottish/Irish citizens who have come to America as indentured servants, some seeking a better life, others serving out prison sentences. The journey to America is a rough one with many dying along the way. Once they make landfall they are quickly sold off. From there life only becomes more difficult. Families are split up. They are forced to live by very restrictive rules such as not being allowed to work to earn money or dating, marrying, and starting families. They are physically, verbally, emotionally, and sexually abused repeatedly. It is a tough read but a part of our history that is so important to remember.

Good characters and well researched. Colonial America was a hard life, especially for an indentured servant. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook.

Freedom Dues is an engrossing story of indentured servitude in the New World during the early 1700’s. Life in Colonial America is difficult for all but it is exponentially harder if you are.an indentured servant. Any work that one would expect a slave to preform was also done by indentures. In fact there was little difference between the two. There were some laws that were intended to protect them but they were weak and then as now justice was out of reach of the poor. Doing research after finishing the book,I was not surprised to learn that the percentage that died during their contracted years was high. It is in this uncertain world that our protagonists find themselves.
Blair Eakins a young scots Irish man from Ulster decides to leave Ireland after his father dies. He and his brother Ronald make this choice when faced with few prospects for the future except poverty and famine. Blair looks forward to improving his life, in America, for himself and his sweetheart. Not 24 hours into the voyage Blair and his brother realize that in their new circumstances they are vulnerable and what is promised to them is not always going to be delivered.
Mallie Ambrose is a 10 year old pick-pocket from London. When she is caught and found guilty her sentence is transportation followed by a 7 year indenture. During the voyage she is befriended by a fellow transportee who had money to buy a better condition for himself while onboard. He is able to protect Mallie from some of the worst situations during the trip.
Once landed though her contract is bought by a planter from Maryland. Though still a child Mallie is expected to work anywhere she may be needed, the house, kitchens or fields. She must follow the same rules as the adults and can expect the same punishment for infractions, including beatings with a whip or leather strap.
The hardships, peril and betrayals both face and their reactions to them, form the basis of their storylines. Will they grow and prosper or fail and not survive are questions they face.
The life they live is often brutal and therefore the book is hard to read sometimes. But it also shows their ability to survive and their capacity to continue to believe in and hope for a brighter future. We see strength, courage, integrity and yes even the ability to love in them. The author has done a wonderful job creating such complex characters.
The research that was done by the author was extensive and it shows. Each facet of historical detail was seamlessly interwoven to give the reader a true sense of time and place. The story moves forward at a nice even pace with many highs,lows,twists and turns for the reader to experience. All in all this was a well written exciting book!
I “read” the novel via an audiobook and throughly enjoyed the movie that played in my head. My only wish was that the publisher had used 2 narrators. This is not meant to diminish the narrators work she did a wonderful job but the vast number of characters with differing accents would have challenged the very best actor. Despite this issue she did an admirable job using her voice to build tension and reflect thee emotions of each scene.
Recommended for serious historical fiction fans who also enjoy historical romance that’s well done.
4 Stars!

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher, Spinning a Yarn Press and NetGalley. This fact in no way influenced my review.

Freedom Dues, by Indra Zuno, is a compelling look at indentured servitude in 1700s America. The story is written in such a way that the reader might feel almost like they're "experiencing" this life through the eyes of the two main characters.
Sarah Jane-Drummy does an amazing job at narrating the audio book version. Her voice draws you in and she's able to seamlessly switch between various characters and their different accents.
Blair Eakins is a 15yo living in Ireland with his family. The famine is well under way so he decides to go with his brother to find a better life in Philadelphia. In order to pay for passage he must commit to being an indentured servant 4 years.
Mallie Ambrose is a young pickpocket living in London. After she's caught stealing a handkerchief she's sentenced to 7yrs of indentured servitude and sent to Maryland.
They're both forced to endure inhumane treatment. Years later they meet after they've been bought by the same owner. Eventually they escape and find unexpected help from the Delaware Native Americans. Despite the kindness that they receive, they live in constant fear of being caught.

Freedom Dues
by Indra Zuno
This is a remarkable history of the 17th century. The forced servitude of Irish, and Sottish immigrants that are indentured labor and near slavery. The story shows the forced immigration of "criminal" English men and women. The men forcing their attention on little girls, not only because they had the power but because they were never held accountable for their behaviors. The rough nature of the owners of the debts. The politics that made contracts that were signed for a short period were extended by deception is a common occurrence. Another part of American history that has not been taught. I wonder if more of these stories were told that some of the divisions in the world will be healed.
The voice of the audible book show the fear, desperation, and emotion of the characters.