The Freedom of Jenny

Nanette Morton teaches English at McMaster University in Hamilton.

Jenny Estes is the daughter of slaves in 1840s Missouri. Lively and
mischievous, she loves to hear about her mother’s homeland of
Madagascar and, even more, the whispered tales about a slave named
Harriet, who escaped to Canada and freedom. In spite of this, however,
Jenny experiences hardship early: her father has a different master and
lives apart from the family and Jenny, legally barred from the education
she longs for, must work long hours in her master’s household. Life
changes when Jenny’s father, Howard, goes on a cattle drive west.
Although the year-long trip is dangerous, it offers him the chance to
buy the family’s freedom.

Howard’s return and the family’s subsequent removal to the freedom
of California are bittersweet, however, because of the loss and grief
the family endures before he returns. Nonetheless, Jenny is thrilled by
the trip west and life in California. Unfortunately, California is not
the haven that the Estes family hopes for. Their civil liberties
curtailed, the family suffers one more devastating tragedy before moving
north to Saltspring Island, B.C.

The first part of the book is excellent: Burtinshaw expertly embeds
historical facts in the narrative without weighing it down, and short
definitions placed at the beginning of each chapter provide necessary
background for young readers. Unfortunately, the last part seems rushed:
the author may have stripped it of detail in order to shorten the book.
But in spite of this, young readers will find this novel both exciting
and informative. Highly recommended.