"An inspiring tale about the importance of freedom and how it defines us." ––Kirkus Reviews

"A lyrical historical tale that is as thought-provoking as it is emotionally resonant. Cobra’s writing is a deft blend of vivid description, lyricism, and thematic symbolism." ––The Prairies Book Reviews

A young, enslaved man sets off on a quest to live life on his own terms in Cobra’s historical novel.

In October 1858, 18-year-old Percival Bishop tries to flee to freedom across the Mississippi River from Missouri to Illinois. As the unrecognized Black son of white enslaver Joachim Bishop, Percival has never known a life outside of the tobacco plantation that his father owns. Shortly after his escape, he’s tracked down and caught by two men who make a living by kidnapping people and bring them back to their former enslavers. But before they can drag Percival back to the plantation, a white man named Winthrop Goodfellow shoots one of them and rescues the teen. Later, Winthrop learns of Percival’s skills as a sculptor, and he teaches him how to hone them as a way to help himself in the future. They head to Quincy, Illinois, where Percival secures a fake identity and forged paperwork that says that he’s a free man. When his love of sculpting attracts the attention of someone familiar, and interest from a mysterious buyer from across the river, he fears that someone’s onto his secret. To gain his freedom once and for all, Percival finds that he must do whatever it takes—even with a bounty on his head, and despite the fact that Winthrop may have a dangerous secret of his own. Over the course of this novel, every character, including relatively minor players, feels rich and complex, from Cassandra, a Black woman who works at a Quincy store and befriends Percival, to the head cook, Esther, at the Bishop mansion. Cobra’s lyrical prose brings life to the story, as does the present-tense immediacy of Percival’s narration: “In [Cassandra’s] gaze, I wonder if the beholder cannot be made beautiful by the things he beholds.”