Journey into darkness

A white man is the hunter. A black man is the hunted. But the truth may lie far beyond what the facts suggest.

United States. 19th century. Slavery dominates the South, with its horrors and all the moral degradation it entails. In the North, whether for economic reasons or humanitarian convictions, abolitionism gains ground.

Journey into Darkness is the story of two very different men, each engaged in a different quest but linked by a story of remorse, jealousy, and a love that crosses racial boundaries during the time of slavery. William, a runaway slave from Maryland, wants to find Dover, the woman who is expecting his child, and live as a free man. To do so, he faces a perilous escape to the North, where, while confronting the horrors of persecution and punishment of runaway Black people, he reflects on his life and tries to restore its meaning. Morrison, his pursuer, had fled a painful youth in Scotland and once hoped to establish a new life in America with his brother, but instead of the happiness he dreamed of, he found only suffering.

As he traces the paths of William, Dover, and Morrison, David Anthony Durham captures in rich and inspiring detail the events and landscape of the United States just before the outbreak of the Civil War. Blending the drama of these characters with a profound understanding of enduring love and the desire for freedom, Journey into Darkness is a complex story that exposes the wounds of an inhumane and cruel system, in a work of historical fiction based on extensive and accurate research.

"Durham is a storyteller touched by an angel." - Booklist