I recieved a copy of this novel from the publisher via BookishFirst for an honest review.
Harriet Tubman is an icon of American history, primarily for her work as a conductor on the Underground Railroad. In The Tubman Command, Elizabeth Cobbs shines a light on Tubman’s less well-known work as a Union spy and scout during the Civil War. In particular, this is a fictionalized account of the largest plantation raid conducted by the Union army during the war, a raid that Tubman was instrumental in leading and provided the information critical for the planning and execution of the raid. Cobbs is a historian as well as a novelist, and expertly weaves together fact and fiction. For interested readers, author’s notes at the end of the work explain what was added, and some of the research process involved in creating the book.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I was skeptical at first, and worried that the fact that Cobbs relies heavily on dialect to establish the characters, setting, and atmosphere. By the time I reached the third chapter, I realized that I was wrong. The dialect used when the characters are speaking, drawn from Cobbs’ research and reading of primary source documents from the period, feels appropriate and authentic. Short passages drawn directly from primary sources (with a few edits to bring them into a reader-friendly format) introduce each chapter and help reinforce the fact that this is not a work of pure fiction, the events are real.
A short and fast read, with an excellent balance of historical research and details that keep the story moving as a novel.
Harriet Tubman is an icon of American history, primarily for her work as a conductor on the Underground Railroad. In The Tubman Command, Elizabeth Cobbs shines a light on Tubman’s less well-known work as a Union spy and scout during the Civil War. In particular, this is a fictionalized account of the largest plantation raid conducted by the Union army during the war, a raid that Tubman was instrumental in leading and provided the information critical for the planning and execution of the raid. Cobbs is a historian as well as a novelist, and expertly weaves together fact and fiction. For interested readers, author’s notes at the end of the work explain what was added, and some of the research process involved in creating the book.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I was skeptical at first, and worried that the fact that Cobbs relies heavily on dialect to establish the characters, setting, and atmosphere. By the time I reached the third chapter, I realized that I was wrong. The dialect used when the characters are speaking, drawn from Cobbs’ research and reading of primary source documents from the period, feels appropriate and authentic. Short passages drawn directly from primary sources (with a few edits to bring them into a reader-friendly format) introduce each chapter and help reinforce the fact that this is not a work of pure fiction, the events are real.
A short and fast read, with an excellent balance of historical research and details that keep the story moving as a novel.