The Good Lord Bird (National Book Award Winner): A NovelNow a Showtime limited series starring Ethan Hawke and Daveed Diggs Winner of the National Book Award for Fiction From the bestselling author of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, Deacon King Kong (an Oprah Book Club pick) and The Color of Water comes the story of a young boy born a slave who joins John Brown’s antislavery crusade—and who must pass as a girl to survive. Henry Shackleford is a young slave living in the Kansas Territory in 1856--a battleground between anti- and pro-slavery forces--when legendary abolitionist John Brown arrives. When an argument between Brown and Henry's master turns violent, Henry is forced to leave town--along with Brown, who believes Henry to be a girl and his good luck charm. Over the ensuing months, Henry, whom Brown nicknames Little Onion, conceals his true identity to stay alive. Eventually Brown sweeps him into the historic raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859--one of the great catalysts for the Civil War. An absorbing mixture of history and imagination, and told with McBride's meticulous eye for detail and character, The Good Lord Bird is both a rousing adventure and a moving exploration of identity and survival. |
Contents
PROLOGUE | 1 |
The Good Lord Bird | 21 |
The Old Mans Army | 34 |
Nigger Bob | 54 |
Black Jack | 76 |
A Bad Omen | 95 |
SLAVE DEEDS Missouri | 115 |
A Real Gunslinger | 117 |
Meeting a Great Man | 218 |
Smelling Like Bear | 229 |
Rousing the Hive | 242 |
The Plan | 254 |
The Spy | 273 |
The Word | 290 |
The Rail Man | 299 |
Annie | 310 |
Pie | 128 |
Sibonia | 145 |
Insurrection | 155 |
A Terrible Discovery | 167 |
Squeezed | 176 |
Busting Out | 188 |
LEGEND Virginia | 199 |
Rolling into History | 201 |
The Things Heaven Sent | 325 |
Escape | 333 |
Attack | 348 |
A Bowl of Confusion | 356 |
UnHiving the Bees | 372 |
Last Stand | 386 |
Getting Gone | 396 |
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Common terms and phrases
abolitionist ain't Annie armory armory gate asked Bible bout brung busted California Trail Captain Chambersburg Charles Town Chase Coachman colored Conestoga wagon Cook dead door Douglass dress Dutch engine house eyes face feller Ferry fight fire fool Fort Leavenworth Fred Free Staters girl gived gonna guns hand hanging Harpers Ferry head heard hisself hive hollering horse inside Kagi Kansas Territory looked Lord Bird minutes Miss Abby moved Negro never nigger numbers Old John Brown Old Man's army Osawatomie Owen Pardee Pikesville pulled pumpkin bread Rail rebels reckon redshirts ride rifle road rotgut round seen Sharps rifle Sibonia side slave slave patrollers slavery standing stared Stevens stood stopped talking tavern tell thing throwed thunk told took town trail train turned wagon waiting walked watching white folks window woman word would'a yard