by Jacqueline Sheehan

Born a slave, survived a free bondwoman, reborn an outspoken abolitionist, Sojourner Truth died a heroine of graceful proportions. But the story of her inner struggles is as powerful and provocative as her accomplishments and could be captured only in fiction. This emotionally searing novel beautifully infuses the historical atrocities of the 1800s with psychological speculation of who Sojourner Truth really was, beyond her social and political persona. Reminiscent of White Oleander, Bastard Out of Carolina, and Their Eyes Were Watching God, Jacqueline Sheehan's book tells the story of Sojourner Truth as it has never been told before.

"I rode to earth on the backside of a comet." So begins Jacqueline Sheehan's marvelous debut novel, based largely on the early life of Sojourner Truth. Born at the turn of the nineteenth century to slaves of a New York State Dutch gentleman farmer, young Isabella was sold off at the age of nine to a succession of owners -- some cruel, some indifferent, all assuming that she, as a colored girl, would never feel or think as anything but a child. On the contrary, Isabella has dreams and fears and a deeply felt faith that somehow sees her through the indignities and beatings she must tolerate.

Once Isabella achieves her hard-won freedom, however, the path she walks as Sojourner Truth is riddled with obstacles: her son, still a slave, is sold south into the harshest of brutalities, only to be saved by her relentless efforts to wrest him back. Her young daughters must likewise remain enslaved until they come of age, their family scattered and adrift. Her newfound religion leads her into a cultish environment of frauds and charlatans, and she narrowly avoids being accused of the murder of a dearly loved friend. Ultimately, she triumphs against the most enormous of odds and reunites her family under one roof, only to be called by God to speak out against slavery and for women's rights as long as she draws breath.

In a feat of literary ventriloquism, Jacqueline Sheehan puts the story back in Sojourner's voice, lending the telling a naked, crystalline quality that transports the reader to a time when survival could mean sacrificing little pieces of one's soul. Truth is a testament to one woman's strength, a powerful lesson in courage.