Amity, Nathan Harris
Amity, Nathan Harris
List: $31.99 | Sale: $22.40
Club: $15.99

Amity
A Novel

Author: Nathan Harris

Narrator: André Santana, Angel Pean

Unabridged: 12 hr 14 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/02/2025


Synopsis

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Sweetness of Water comes a gripping story about a brother and sister, emancipated from slavery but still searching for true freedom, and their odyssey across the deserts of Mexico to escape a former master still intent on their bondage.

New Orleans, 1866. The Civil War might be over, but formerly enslaved Coleman and June have yet to find the freedom they’ve been promised. Two years ago, the siblings were separated when their old master, Mr. Harper, took June away to Mexico, where he hoped to escape the new reality of the postbellum South. Coleman stayed behind in Louisiana to serve the Harper family, clinging to the hope that one day June would return.
 
When an unexpected letter from Mr. Harper arrives, summoning Coleman to Mexico, Coleman thinks that finally his prayers have been answered. What Coleman cannot know is the tangled truth of June’s tribulations under Mr. Harper out on the frontier. And when disaster strikes Coleman’s journey, he is forced on the run with Mr. Harper's daughter, Florence. Together, they venture into the Mexican desert to find June, all the while evading two crooked brothers who'll stop at nothing to capture Coleman and Florence and collect the money they're owed. As Coleman and June separately navigate a perilous, parched landscape, the siblings learn quickly that freedom isn't always given—sometimes, it must be taken by force.
 
As in his New York Times bestselling debut The Sweetness of Water, Nathan Harris delves into the critical years of the Civil War’s aftermath to deliver an intimate and epic tale of what freedom means in a society still determined to return its Black citizens to bondage. Populated with unforgettable characters, Amity is a vital addition to the literature of emancipation.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Shantha (ShanthasBookEra) on July 29, 2025

"A gripping story about a brother and sister, emancipated from slavery but still searching for true freedom, and their odyssey across the deserts of Mexico to finally reunite, all while escaping a former master still intent on their bondage." It is just after the Civil War when Coleman leaves with Ne......more

Goodreads review by Jessica on July 16, 2025

3.5 stars (per Goodreads, 3 stars = "I liked it") This is a work of historical fiction taking place in the American South and Mexico in the years immediately post-Civil War. POVs alternate between siblings Coleman and June, servants of the family who owned them as slaves before the North's victory fr......more

Goodreads review by Amy on June 03, 2025

As powerful and as beautiful as The Sweetness of Water. Nathan Harris’ writing is gorgeous. Added joy, there’s Oliver the dog! I just loved this book as much as his debut. Thank you to my fabulous Lewes DE Public Library for an ARC of this book, out on September 2nd.......more

Goodreads review by Kaitlyn on July 28, 2025

If this could be a 3.5 star book, it would! I really wanted to like this book but parts of it fell flat for me. I struggled with the tenses changing between characters a bit, and it felt like the entire book was in service to what happens at the end.. which isn’t terrible, but it felt noticeable to......more


Quotes

"I fell into this stunning novel as into another world, with the shock of encountering something truly original. An epic tale of a budding genius pulled through the borderlands, Amity is harrowing, often beautiful, and deeply moving.”—Andrea Barrett, author of Ship Fever and Natural History

“Nathan Harris proves once again that he is one of the greatest literary minds of our generation. The appropriately titled Amity is a mightily engrossing tale, filled with magnificently realized and unforgettable characters in a world that is so thoroughly imagined. Harris employs such careful, balanced storytelling, crafting a novel that is at once harrowing and gentle, dangerous but romantic. Readers will find that for every sorrow there is a joy and for every fool there is a lesson. And it is all woven together with such impeccable prose. Amity is a deeply adventurous and astonishingly beautiful book."—Robert Jones, Jr., author of The Prophets, a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction