Birdie

My heart cracked open again and again as I wrote Birdie. She was inspired by two young women from news articles of the day and stories of others from the Underground Railroad Museum in Flushing, Ohio. Having grown up as a "possession," she had to develop the skills of subtle reconnaissance and avoidance of abuse, learning the art of survival from her mother and surrogate grandmother. But those tactics could not protect her indefinitely.

Without giving away too much, I can say that Birdie is placed in the impossible situation of providing care for the very person whose death would emancipate her. All the while, freedom lay just across the river.