Named One of the Most-Anticipated Books of 2021 by:
O, The Oprah Magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, The Millions, Refinery29, Publishers Lunch, BuzzFeed, The Rumpus, BookPage, Harper's Bazaar, Ms., Goodreads, and more
“Libertie is a feat of monumental thematic imagination.”
—Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, The New York Times Book Review
“This
is one of the most thoughtful and amazingly beautiful books I’ve read
all year. Kaitlyn Greenidge is a master storyteller.”
—Jacqueline Woodson, author of Red at the Bone
The critically acclaimed and Whiting Award–winning author of We Love You, Charlie Freeman returns with Libertie, an unforgettable story about one young Black girl’s attempt to find a place where she can be fully, and only, herself.
Coming of age as a freeborn Black girl in Reconstruction-era Brooklyn,
Libertie Sampson is all too aware that her purposeful mother,
a practicing physician, has a vision for their future together: Libertie
is to 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. When a young
man from Haiti proposes to Libertie and promises she will be his equal
on the island, she accepts, only to discover that she is still
subordinate to him and all men. As she tries to parse what freedom
actually means for a Black woman, Libertie struggles with where she
might find it—for herself and for generations to come.
Inspired
by the life of one of the first Black female doctors in the United
States and rich with historical detail, Kaitlyn Greenidge’s new and
immersive novel will resonate with readers eager to understand our
present through a deep, moving, and lyrical dive into our complicated
past.
