This novel is based on the remarkable true story of Mary Bowser, a young woman who was enslaved in antebellum Richmond, Virginia by the wealthy Van Lew family. Bet Van Lew, the headstrong daughter of the family had strong abolitionist sentiments, which led her to emancipate Mary and her mother but the law forbade emancipated slaves to live within the state. Mary traveled to Philadelphia to be educated, and her mother, wishing to remain with her still enslaved "husband" pretended to still be in bondage. During the period of her life in Philadelphia, her mother passed away, which led Mary to feel a higher calling than that of the bourgeois free blacks she saw around her in Philadelphia. With the aid of friends who worked with the Underground Railroad, Mary returned to Richmond to pose as an enslaved house girl in order to spy in the home of none other than Confederate States president, Jefferson Davis. A memorable story of a brave woman history had forgotten. 496 pages
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