Book Synopsis
An action/thriller, True North: Tice’s Story tells the dramatic story of Tice, a 19-year-old, God-fearing slave who escapes from his master’s plantation in Maysville, Kentucky, swimming across the Ohio River to Ripley, Ohio, where he is connected to a network of people in the Underground Railroad. “Conductors” rush him northeastward, ever northeastward through Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine toward New Brunswick, Canada. Always in pursuit is the ruthless Morgan, his master’s foreman, who even arrives at Portland, Maine, ahead of the runaway.
Early on, Tice is given a copy of John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress which he carries with him as, one by one, his “conductors” teach him to read. On more than one level, Tice connects to Pilgrim in his often frightening race to freedom.