In the squalid slave quarters of a Tidewater

plantation in Maryland, Harriet Tubman

was born. She was a quict girl, but a bright

one, and her parents hoped that she might

learn a trade so that she would not have to

work in the fields. It was the most shc

could hope for, they said.

But Harriet had a dream for a better

life for her people. She heard the whisper-

ings of slave revolts, escapes from other

plantations, the underground railroad. She

acquired amazing physical strength and

moral courage; she learned to recognize

the signs in nature that would enable her

to escape. And escape she did.

But freedom was not enough. After she

escaped she went back for others. She

walked, ran, hid, coaxed, cajoled, and

prayed, until three hundred of her people

had been delivered into freedom. She be-

came the legendary "Moses" whom every

plantation owner feared, and none had

ever seen. But all her life she remained the

tender, understanding Tidewater girl she

was born.

Ann Perry brings all her controlled nar-

rative skill to bear on the heroic story of a

great woman. In vivid flowing style, she

makes Harriet Tubman into a living figure

and re-creates in vivid scenes an era of

struggle, hardship, and unshakable faith.

"It is an amazing story, and Ann Perry

has told it convincingly. Her technique of

ending each chapter with one or two ital-

icized paragraphs, highlighting some con-

temporary event in the conflict over

slavery, serves to keep Harriet s story in

focus with those unhappy times."-New

York Herald Tribune.