1) One novel does not belong, for at least three fairly obvious reasons
Wolf Hall — two hundred years prior to most of these; British as opposed to American history; red book cover
2) Two feature Frederick Douglass as a character
The Good Lord Bird
Trans Atlantic
3) One makes Harriet Tubman a prominent character
The Water Dancer
4) Two books follow John Brown
Cloudsplitter
The Good Lord Bird
5) Two take place during the Civil War
Nostalgia
Cold Mountain
6) One makes Walt Whitman a primary character
Nostalgia
7) One features larger-than-life slave catchers and takes place around the Chesapeake Bay
Song Yet Sung
8) One novel goes to the Arctic and features balloon travel
Washington Black
9) One has a character who gives birth to her enslaver’s baby
The Confessions of Frannie Langton
10) Another has a main character who is his enslaver’s child
The Water Dancer
11) Two former enslaved characters travel to England
Washington Black
The Confessions of Frannie Langton
12) One freed slave sleeps with her female “employer” and becomes addicted to opium and is accused of murder
The Confessions of Frannie Langton
13) One story includes the beheading of Thomas Moore and stays close to the thoughts of Thomas Cromwell
Wolf Hall
14) One tracks a fugitive slave from South Carolina who escapes north and serves as scribe for the British during the Revolutionary War, earning her freedom
Someone Knows My Name
Thanks for the answers. I was feeling ignorant and intimidated. I looked up the blurbs on some of them, and ordered one from my favorite independent bookstore – and they have it in stock.
Oh sorry. It wasn’t meant to make anyone feel stupid. More a bit of fun. Maybe only for me? Which one did you order?
It was like a little game! I’d heard of none of these, so couldn’t even make a guess 🙂 I’m still impressed with the quantity of books you read!
Don’t be. These were read (along with others) over a period of years.
Cloudsplitter. Did you enjoy it?
Yes. Fascinating history about John Brown. His fanaticism. Slavery in the western states. I learned a lot.