Freewater: Up in Air, Grounded in Reality

Freewater is the name for both Amina Luqman-Dawson's first novel and for the community of escapees from slavery that she has imagined, their treehouses and rope bridges in the air high above America's "Great Dismal Swamp." The story begins with young teenager Homer's escape with his little sister Ada from a plantation called Southerland.  They've made it through the swamp as far as they can when Suleman, a scout from Freewater, takes them to the community.

Through chapters focused on different characters, we come to see the symmetry in the worlds of Freewater and Southerland, both formed by the institution of slavery. Freewater's design and protocols all stem from the determination not to be found and recaptured, while Southerland's master Crumb and his crony Stokes are determined to recapture the children lest any of the plantation's "darkies" get the idea that they can escape alive.

While Homer and Ada make friends and learn the ways of Freewater, we readers have a nagging sense of unease that the goodness cannot last. Homer feels guilt for leaving behind his mother Rosa and his friend Anna. While he grows to love his new home, he is drawn back to the dangerous old one. At the same time, one of his new friends Sanzi, born in freedom with no sense of limits, yearns for adventure beyond the swamp. She dreams of raiding a plantation like her hero Suleman.

In each community, preparations for a wedding create opportunities for characters to take risks.  I stopped feeling uneasy when I realized that the author had set up a romantic comedy:  each of the friends has someone they really like, but...   shy Billy adores beautiful Juna but can't find the courage to express himself;  Sanzi despises the bully Ferdinand, but she softens when her revenge goes too far;   Homer longs to bring Anna with his mother to Freewater, but how?

Meanwhile, at Southerland, Anna has plans of her own to escape; the owner Mr. Crumb has hired a militia to raid the swamp; his silent younger daughter Nora has a plan to help her nursemaid Rosa to freedom.

All these characters and their plans converge for page-turning suspense, laughs, and the satisfaction of seeing young characters find their own strength.

Luqman-Dawson adds a note about the actual "Great Dismal Swamp" and the real-life "maroon" communities here and abroad where escapees from slavery really did thrive in secret. "Freewater" is her own creation, as marvelous as Oz or Hogwarts.

While her adventure book touches the deep pain of real slavery, the meaning of freedom, and the distortions of personality that slavery imposed on all their lives, whites and blacks alike, the wonder of this book is its joyfulness.