The known world

The known world encompasses past, present and future in an original way, weaving together the lives of freed and enslaved black people, white people and indigenous people.

Neither abolitionists nor martyrs are presented. The broad network of characters allows for a profound understanding of the complex slave regime, whose echoes are still heard today. Henry Townsend, a Black farmer, shoemaker, and former slave, is passionate about John Milton's classic Paradise Lost and has an unlikely mentor: William Robbins, one of the most powerful men in the pre-Civil War South. Henry becomes the owner of his own farm—and also of his own slaves.

But something begins to change: slaves escape, well-connected families betray each other, free blacks are sold back into slavery, and distrust is everywhere. A familiar world begins to crumble.

The Known World is a powerful and profound novel.