Kai Thomas has crafted a wonderful story of two strong-willed women, the fictional town of Dummore located in Upper Canada, and the history of slavery in North America.

Lensinda Martin is a Black journalist in mid-1800s Ontario. She lives in Dunmore, a place settled by escaping slaves from America. Lensinda is drawn into a messy situation when a slave hunter is killed by Cash, an elderly woman hiding in the town. Cash refuses to flee to save herself, and the farmer hiding her asks Lensinda to get Cash's testimony before Cash's trial.

Cash insists on the two women exchanging tales, forcing Lensinda to listen to not only how Cash ended up killing the man after her, but how Cash started life as a slave and the many horrible things she experienced over her long years. Along the say, Lensinda begins to get inklings that Cash's past and her own are linked, and Lensinda also sees how intricate and intertwined the relationships are between the indigenous, white and Blacks on the continent.

This was an utterly mesmerizing story of how interconnected the lives and cultures are of the indigenous with whites, and with freed and enslaved Blacks in North America. Kai Thomas’ voice is confident and often lyrical as Lensinda and Cash trade stories and parts of their experiences with each other. The history of North America is complex, and the border between Canada and the US is ephemeral as people travel between the two countries, but attitudes and ideas and blood connect them into a complicated and messy whole.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Penguin Random House Canada for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Read if you like: multiple perspectives, book told through stories.
-
Told through multiple stories, the book looks at the experiences of slavery in Canada, as well the experiences of the Black communities formed from runaway slaves in Canada.
-
I loved Lesinda and Cash’s stories. They were fantastic characters and I loved how the author wove the story together through multiple narratives. Brilliantly done.

I could not put down this wonderful debut novel by a young Canadian writer who grew up here, in Ottawa. Set in a fictional Black town outside of Chatham before slavery was abolished in the US. An elderly woman, Cash, kills an American slave hunter and is arrested for her crime. Lesinda, a writer for a local Black newspaper is sent by the community to learn her story. Over a period of time the two women exchange stories, and the reader learns the history of Black-Indigenous relations, the War of 1812, the Underground Railroad, etc. there is also an unexpected connection between the protagonists.

I could not get into this one and ended up skimming parts of it. I enjoy historical fiction but this one was slow-paced. It could well have been that this was just not the right book for me at this time, as I have been recently tending towards thriller reads.

Thanks to Penguin Random House and Netgalley for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

Thomas considers himself an Afro-Canadian and was born and raised in Ottawa with heritage from both Trinidad and the British Isles. This is his debut novel. It is an historical fiction set in 1859 in a fictional town in southern Ontario that is a home for runaway slaves. We meet Lensinda, who works for a black journalist. When an old woman who has recently arrived via the Underground Railroad shoots and kills a slave hunter and refuses to flee, Lensinda is called in to make sure her side of the story is told. Visiting her in jail the old woman agrees only to trade stories. The stories encompass the lives of both black and Indigenous peoples and life before and during the War of 1812. This is a heartbreaking tale of cruelty and violence. It is also confusing at times trying to follow the meandering stories and how they relate to the main characters. It is, however, a wonderful recommendation for readers interested in the subject and I think would be a powerful selection for a book club.

DNF - I think had I tried to read this book at a different time I might have been able to full appreciate it. For now, I am not pursuing it further & will check back at a different stage as the storyline is of great interest to me.

This novel begins in the 1800s in Dunmore, a town in Canada founded by Black people escaping slavery in the American South. Lensinda Martin works for the local newspaper and is tasked with interviewing an old woman who shot dead a slave hunter. A Black person killing a white man — however justified — is a worrying occurrence because of the potential for retaliation. The town is on tenterhooks as the old woman is arrested and jailed.

From there, the novel is an intricate braid of stories — the old woman’s, Lensinda’s, and what happens in Dunmore after the shooting.

Many readers will find this unconventional structure refreshing. I tend to prefer more traditionally structured novels and this structure sometimes left me a little confused and disoriented. I also felt it limited my attachment to the characters. I never really felt like I was getting to know them better, despite the fact that more information is gradually revealed about them.

Relatedly, I sometimes found the characters’ psychology mysterious. I didn’t always understand their motivations or responses to events. Other readers will no doubt enjoy this inscrutability, but it wasn’t my cup of tea.

My favourite aspect of the book was the insight into the interwoven North American history of Black people (both born free and born into slavery), Indigenous people (of multiple tribes), and white people. I am inspired to read some more history, especially about the Black-founded towns in Canada and about the War of 1812.

This is an impressive, ambitious debut novel and even though I didn’t love every aspect of it, I liked it enough that I look forward to reading whatever Kai Thomas writes next.

In the Upper Country will be published on 10th January, 2023. Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for an Advance Reader Copy.

The power of stories is on full display here, in this book that illuminates a time and place and people that maybe not enough know about. What starts off as separate threads, places as far apart as Kentucky and Ontario, all come together in this riveting tale.

So this was a diifferent book. One that should be in Canadian schools when published I have heard about The Underground Railroad but not where it brings people into Canadian homes.

Definitely recommend

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher all thought are my own