Genre: Historical Fiction
Length: 368 pages
Audiobook Length: 12 hours and 44 minutes
First Published: 2024
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Rachael’s Review
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Ballantine Books through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
In 1837, Charlotte has escaped her life as a slave only to serve as a housemaid to her white-passing father in Philadelphia. Longing for more freedom but afraid of slave-catchers, Charlotte befriends Nell, an up-and-coming abolitionist from a prominent Black family. When Charlotte’s former mistress arrives with her slave Evie in tow, Charlotte and Nell risk losing everything to help Evie gain her freedom.
Ashton Lattimore’s promising debut is a solid historical fiction with a great setting and interesting characters. I especially enjoyed the look at racism and classism, especially within the Black community. However, All We Were Promised was a bit rough around the edges. The slow plot would have easily been improved with heavier editing, cutting the length and needless repetition down. However, my biggest complaint was that the narration always keeps you at a distance; I saw the characters’ struggles but never truly felt them myself. I do think Lattimore’s novels will improve with time and I’m excited to see what she has in store in the future.
Publisher’s Description
A housemaid with a dangerous family secret conspires with a wealthy young abolitionist to help an enslaved girl escape, in volatile pre-Civil War Philadelphia.
Philadelphia, 1837. After Charlotte escaped from the crumbling White Oaks plantation down South, she’d expected freedom to feel different from her former life as an enslaved housemaid. After all, Philadelphia is supposed to be the birthplace of American liberty. Instead, she’s locked away playing servant to her white-passing father, as they both attempt to hide their identities from slavecatchers who would destroy their new lives.
Longing to break away, Charlotte befriends Nell, a budding abolitionist from one of Philadelphia’s wealthiest Black families. Just as Charlotte starts to envision a future, a familiar face from her past reappears: Evie, her friend from White Oaks, has been brought to the city by the plantation mistress, and she’s desperate to escape. But as Charlotte and Nell conspire to rescue her, in a city engulfed by race riots and attacks on abolitionists, they soon discover that fighting for Evie’s freedom may cost them their own.
About Ashton Lattimore
Ashton Lattimore is a journalist, former lawyer, and author of the novel All We Were Promised. She is also the editor-in-chief at Prism, a nonprofit news outlet by and for communities of color. Lattimore grew up in New Jersey and currently lives in Philadelphia. Visit the author’s website →
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