From the award-winning novelist and biographer Beverly Lowry comes an astonishing re-imagining of the remarkable life of Harriet Tubman, the “Moses of Her People.”

Tubman was an escaped slave, lumberjack, laundress, raid leader, nurse, fund-raiser, cook, intelligence gatherer, Underground Railroad organizer, and abolitionist. In Harriet Tubman, Lowry creates a portrait enriched with lively imagined vignettes that transform the legendary icon into flesh and blood. We travel with Tubman on slave-freeing raids in the heart of the Confederacy, along the treacherous route of the Underground Railroad, and onto the battlefields of the Civil War. Integrating extensive research and interviews with scholars and historians into a rich and mesmerizing chronicle, Lowry brings an American hero to life as never before.

“A swiftly paced, fascinating read. . . . Lowry has a ripe subject in Tubman.” —Boston Globe

“Harriet Tubman is a biography that goes to the core of character, using the record to create a fully imagined life.” —The New York Sun

“Lowry’s dramatic retelling seems thoroughly researched. . . . [Her] method produces vivid scenes of Tubman's life.” —The New York Times

“Beverly Lowry’s brilliantly imaginative account of Harriet Tubman’s incredible life is a valuable addition to the literature of American heroism—of African American and female American heroism in particular. Binding a novelist’s vision of a lost, mostly unrecorded world with the discipline and scholarship of a first-rate historian, Lowry has written
more than a mere biography.” —Russell Banks, author of Cloudsplitter and The Sweet Hereafter

“Lowry has done a superlative job of bringing us closer to Harriet Tubman than we are ever likely to get. Her elegant, sophisticated, and pungent prose style makes this exciting biography a pleasure to read.” —Phillip Lopate, author of Waterfront: A Walk Around Manhattan and Getting Personal

“Through a combination of tireless research and generous imagination, Beverly Lowry has breathed life into a legend and made her story whole. Harriet Tubman is a revelation, a wonder. This is the portrait she deserves.” —Ann Patchett, author of Bel Canto and Truth and Beauty

“In this beautifully imagined, meticulously documented biography, Beverly Lowry transforms Harriet Tubman as icon into flesh and blood. Tubman’s courage, her will, and her genius are alive on every page. This is a remarkable book in every way: the storytelling is first-rate, the emotional and social insights are astute, and the prose is as elegant as it is energetic.” —Patricia O’Toole, author of When Trumpets Call: Theodore Roosevelt After the White House

 
Beverly Lowry is the author of six novels and the nonfiction works Crossed Over and Her Dream of Dreams. The recipient of the 2007 Richard Wright Literary Excellence Award, Lowry teaches at George Mason University. She lives in Austin, Texas.