Need recommendation for Underground Railroad fic

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Need recommendation for Underground Railroad fic

1SJaneDoe
Apr 5, 2016, 1:19 pm

I'm looking for adult fiction that's similar to Jubilee, but where the characters escape to Canada instead of staying in the south. I'm hoping for something that covers a long period of time, both during and post-slavery era. (But not The Book of Negroes, which I've already read.)
Thanks!

2Carrieida
Edited: May 11, 2025, 11:06 am

Two recommendations: Flee North by Scott Shane and Hidden in Plain View by Jacquelin Tobin. Also: The Mapmaker’s Children by Sarah McCoy

3Darth-Heather
May 11, 2025, 10:59 am

I enjoyed The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier

4lilithcat
May 11, 2025, 11:12 am

5lilithcat
May 11, 2025, 11:15 am

7gmathis
Edited: May 19, 2025, 9:52 am

The Runaway Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini was a good read ... does a little back-and-forth between the Underground Railroad and contemporary times, but not enough to dilute a good storyline.

8Cecrow
May 12, 2025, 5:30 pm

>6 lilithcat:, it's well reviewed, but important to note perhaps that Whitehead re-imagines it as an actual railroad that's underground, neither of which it was.

9lilithcat
Edited: May 12, 2025, 5:35 pm

>8 Cecrow:

Of course, but so what? The OP is looking for fiction.

10SJaneDoe
May 18, 2025, 8:34 am

Thanks for the recommendations.

>9 lilithcat: The OP (me) was looking for historical fiction similar to Jubilee. @Cecrow was correct here: I'm very familiar with Colson Whitehead's work, but that's not what I had in mind in this case.

11gmathis
May 19, 2025, 9:52 am

I just picked up When Stars Begin to Fall by Denise Williamson, which focuses on some Quaker abolitionists who secretly trained freedmen as doctors, maintained "free stores" whose products were not a result of slave labor, and sponsored safe communities for escapees. I didn't realize it was the second in a series, so it took a couple chapters to get my bearings, but it's a good read.

12Carrieida
Jul 25, 2025, 2:22 pm

Recommend The Mapmakers Daughter, Flee North and Hidden in Plain Site. All of these great books on the Underground Railroad.