From the critically acclaimed and Whiting Award-winning author of We Love You, Charlie Freeman comes a book about what freedom actually means - and where to find it

Shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize for Fiction 2022 A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2021 LONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 PEN AMERICA OPEN BOOK AWARD A Times Book of the Month One of Roxane Gay's Audacious Book Club Picks 'A feat of monumental thematic imagination' - The New York Times Book Review 'An elegantly layered, beautifully rendered tour de force that is not to be missed' - Roxane Gay Libertie Sampson was named by her father as he lay dying, in honour of the bright, shining future he was sure was coming. The only daughter of a prosperous Black woman physician, she was born free in a country still blighted by slavery. But she has never felt free. Shrinking from her mother's ambitions for her future, Libertie ventures beyond her insulated community, hoping that somehow, somewhere, she will create a life that feels like her own. Immersive, lyrical and deeply moving, Libertie is a novel about legacy and longing, the story of a young woman struggling to discover what freedom truly means - for herself, and for generations to come.

"Greenidge mixes elements of both conventional historical fiction and magical realism into a satisfying and emotionally powerful brew" - Sunday Times

"Kaitlyn Greenidge is good on the contradictions of freedom, and the persistent, sour legacy of slavery, but it is the mother-daughter relationship that makes this novel dazzle" - The Times

"A feat of monumental thematic imagination ... Greenidge both mines history and transcends time" - New York Times Book Review

"Greenidge (We Love You, Charlie Freeman) delivers another genius work of radical historical fiction ... This pièce de résistance is so immaculately orchestrated that each character, each setting, and each sentence sings." - Publishers Weekly, starred and boxed review

"With Libertie ... Greenidge is making a stylistic leap with an intricately researched and lushly imagined coming-of-age story set in 19th-century Brooklyn and Jacmel, Haiti ... Both epic and intimate" - The New York Times

"Greenidge follows up her highly successful debut novel, We Love You, Charlie Freeman, with the heart-wrenching fictional story of the young daughter of one of the first female physicians in Reconstruction-era Brooklyn, a stunning look at what freedom really means" - The New York Times

"Fiercely compelling, and told in a singular, lyrical voice, Libertie is a novel that lives in a specific historical time-the Reconstruction Era-but offers insight into the very modern struggles that still exist surrounding identity, family, love, and freedom ... This is a novel of struggle and triumph, exhaustion and perseverance, rooted in history, but transcendent of it; another masterwork by Kaitlyn Greenidge." - Refinery29

"Greenidge is a master of character building ... Libertie is an easy page turner-its simple prose makes the plot digestible and the lyrical sentences sing louder. Libertie combines race, colorism, history, and sexism with the utter human pain of lostness. It's a beautiful telling of gorgeously tragic characters who keep you rooting for them, even as they continue to stray and stray and stray" - Boston Globe

"Greenidge explores issues that are still real today while also inviting readers into historical moments that will be new to many. Just as colorism shapes Libertie's relationships with Black people, classism does, too. There are fine distinctions between those who stole themselves away to freedom and those who were born to it, those who work for themselves and those who work for others ... [She] shows us aspects of history we seldom see in contemporary fiction." - Kirkus Reviews

"Libertie is epic yet engaging, and gorgeously written." - The Rumpus

"From icy Brooklyn brownstones to tropical Haiti, the book ties together histories in a way that renders them - especially in today's world - both timeless and timely." - New York Journal of Books

"Spectacular ... A revelatory and enchanting piece of historical fiction" - BuzzFeed

"Few novels have as strong a sense of place as this fascinating blend of magical realism and African American historical fiction ... Greenidge succeeds beautifully at presenting the complexities of an intense mother-daughter bond ... Greenidge creates a richly layered tapestry of Black communal life, notably Black female life, and the inevitable contradictions and compromises of "freedom."" - Booklist, starred review

"Exquisite historical fiction that lovingly reminds us to reassess our own present-day commitments to fighting for, and practicing, freedom." - Ms. Magazine

"Engrossing ... With its connections to a history that's illuminated more and more each passing day, Libertie is a superb novel that informs the present and perhaps even the future." - BookPage

"Through the trials and tribulations of its young Black woman protagonist, [Libertie] reveals a commitment to Libertie's coming-of-age journey that mirrors that of Zora Neale Hurston's treatment of Janie Crawford in Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937). By bearing witness to Libertie's efforts to make a world for herself and for future generations, readers are left to consider the nature of freedom itself and the cost of making space for yourself in a world intent on restricting you." - Bitch Media

"Every bit of Libertie is rich and vibrant, offering the best of what historical fiction can do" - Vulture

"Powerful and memorable ... [Greenidge is] a wonderful writer and hypnotic storyteller with a lightness of touch" - The Big Issue