In the Upper Country

In the Upper Country
Kai Thomas
RRP:
NZ$ 37.99
Our Price:
NZ$ 30.39
Trade Paperback
h234 x 153mm - 352pg
12 Jan 2023 UK
International import eta 7-19 days
9781529389609
Out Of Stock
Currently no stock in-store, stock is sourced to your order
Freedom, you can' t get and bury, and keep it and keep it so it won' t ever go away. No, child. You got to swing your freedom like a club. In 1859, in a small town jail, deep in the forests of Canada, an elderly woman sits behind bars. She came to Dunmore via the Underground Railroad to escape enslavement, but an American bounty hunter tracked her down. Now she' s in jail for killing him. Lensinda Martin, a smart young reporter, wants to tell the woman' s version of events, hoping that it will lead to her acquittal, but the woman will only tell her story on one condition: she gets one from Lensinda in return. As the women swap stories - of family and first loves, of survival and freedom against all odds - it becomes apparent that their histories are interconnected, and a hidden bond between the two women is revealed which will change Lensinda' s life forever. Traveling along the path of the Underground Railroad from Virginia to Michigan, from the Indigenous nations around the Great Lakes, to the Black refugee communities of Canada, In the Upper Country is an unforgettable debut about the interwoven history of peoples in North America, slavery and resistance, and two women reckoning with the stories they' ve been given, and the ones they want to tell.
In the Upper Country is not only fiction alive with history; it is historic. This masterful novel is the first to narrate the forging of the Afro-Metis - or Black & Indigenous - people out of European (or Indigenous) enslavement . . . practically every page turns up a sentence or a phrase that could have been penned by Toni Morrison or James Baldwin -- George Elliot Clarke, critically acclaimed poet and novelist A sweeping epic that imagines all the ways our ancestors tried to get free. This is an exciting voice in fiction, as interested in the complexities of land and belonging as in the vagaries of human love and connection -- Kaitlyn Greenidge, author of Libertie Stories within stories; until I read them, I hadn' t realised these are ones I' d long been wanting, needing even. In this remarkable debut, Kai Thomas fills out the picture of a place, a time, peoples and their relationships, all previously neglected in the day-to-day unfolding of the nations. His immensely compelling details, and a host of voices so well-wrought you can see and hear the speakers long after you' ve finished reading, will leave you eager to see what he' ll do next -- Shani Mootoo, author of Polar Vortex
KAI THOMAS is a writer, carpenter and land steward. He is Afro-Canadian, born and raised in Ottawa, descended from Trinidad and the British Isles. In the Upper Country is his first novel.
Status: Indent title, imported to order
ISBN-13: 9781529389609
Published: 12 Jan 2023
Published In: United Kingdom
Imprint: John Murray Publishers
Publisher: John Murray Press
Format: Trade Paperback
Height: 234mm
Width: 153mm
Weight: 41g
Pages: 352

In stock - for items in stock we aim to dispatch the next business day. For delivery in NZ allow 2-5 business days, with rural taking a wee bit longer.

Locally sourced in NZ - stock comes from a NZ supplier with an approximate delivery of 7-15 business days.

International Imports - stock is imported into NZ, depending on air or sea shipping option from the international supplier stock can take 10-30 working days to arrive into NZ. 

Pre-order Titles - delivery will vary depending on where the title is published, if local stock is available in NZ then 5-7 business days, for international imports it can be 10-30 business days. In all cases we will access the quickest supply option.

Delivery Packaging - we ship all items in cardboard sleeves or by box with either packing paper or corn starch chips. (We avoid using plastics bubble bags)

Tracking - Orders are delivered by track and trace courier and are fully insured, tracking information will be sent by email once dispatched.

View our full Order & Delivery information

Details of the product above will be automatically included with your enquiry.