A Free State

Publisher Marketing: The year is 1855. Blackface minstrelsy is the most popular form of entertainment in a nation about to be torn apart by the battle over slavery. Henry Sims, a fugitive slave and a brilliant musician, has escaped to Philadelphia. He is befriended by a leader of a popular minstrel troupe struggling to compete with similar ensembles. Henry s skill could help the struggling troupe. Black and white performers are not allowed to appear together onstage. Together, the two concoct a masquerade to protect Henry s identity. Even as their plan begins to reverse the troupe s decline, a brutal slave hunter named Tull Burton has been employed to track down the runaway and retrieve him, by any means necessary." Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 07/15/2015 (EAN 9780062284129, Hardcover) Library Journal 08/01/2015 pg. 89 (EAN 9780062284129, Hardcover) Publishers Weekly 08/31/2015 (EAN 9780062284129, Hardcover) BookPage 09/01/2015 (EAN 9780062284129, Hardcover) Contributor Bio:  Piazza, Tom Tom Piazza's writing on American music has appeared in the Sunday New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic, and The Village Voice. He is the author of The Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz (University of Iowa Press), which won the ASCAP-Deems Taylor award for music writing, and Blues and Trouble (St. Martin's Press), which won a James Michener award for fiction. He lives in New Orleans and is working on a novel. Contributor Bio:  Pruden, John John Pruden is a professional voice actor who records audiobooks, corporate and online training narrations, animation and video game characters, and radio and TV commercials. An AudioFile Earphones Award winner, John has a solid creative foundation from which to draw for his intelligent audiobook narrations.