MARCH 2023 - AudioFile
Talented narrators Janina Edwards and Leon Nixon expertly deliver this riveting, well-researched historical account. Ellen and William Craft were an enslaved couple in antebellum Macon, Georgia. In 1848, they fled more than 1,000 miles to the North with Ellen disguised as a disabled white man and William posing as her enslaved servant. The moving true story feels like a novel, and the dual narration engages listeners even more. The performances of both Edwards and Nixon are clear and authoritative, especially as they skillfully vary their pacing to build suspense. Both narrators deliver dignified tones that capture the Crafts' courage, resilience, and enduring love. This important and compelling audiobook is full of historical details and insight. V.T.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Fergus M. Bordewich
In this impressively researched and vividly written rendering of one of the most thrilling true stories of enslaved Americans overcoming daunting odds in their bid for freedom, Ms. Woo takes us on a physical and moral journey through an antebellum America that fostered slavery and put freedom-seekers at mortal risk. She has given us a propulsively fascinating read that is also an essential addition to the literature of antislavery history.
The New Yorker
"Woo’s history draws from a variety of sources, including the Crafts’ own account, to reconstruct a 'journey of mutual self-emancipation,' while artfully sketching the background of a nation careering toward civil war."
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
For those of us who already were familiar with Ellen and William Craft, we’re so grateful for this reconsideration of this courageous couple’s story. Ilyon Woo has accomplished a phenomenal feat, presenting previously unpublished archival excavations. Certainly, this is an essential addition to early African American studies—but more than research, Woo offers the Crafts’ travels with such grace, such tenderness. Here is a necessary rendering of Black love, Black resilience, and Black humanity during one of our nation's most fraught times.
The Los Angeles Times - Stuart Miller
"A pathbreaking book. . . . Riveting."
"100 Must-Read Books of 2023" Time
"It’s an edge-of-your-seat drama that will leave many wondering why the duo’s remarkable story has been so overlooked by history."
Erica Armstrong Dunbar
Marked by careful research and breathtaking prose, Master Slave Husband Wife complicates and compliments the incredible story of Ellen and William Craft. Woo reminds us that the pursuit of freedom is always worth the risk.
Marlon James
"Master Slave Husband Wife, like all of the truly great American stories, spent over a century lying in wait, desperate to be told. Enter Ilyon Woo. Ellen and WIlliam Craft loved each other, but also loved freedom, and knew one was impossible without the other. And so they embarked on one of the most daring feats ever attempted in American history, a breathless story captured with breathless prose, and we readers gasp in amazement and wonder at the tragedy and triumph."
Gretchen Sullivan Sorin
Ilyon Woo’s skillfully crafted storytelling brings new insights to what it means to steal oneself from slavery. Her harrowing tale of Ellen and William Craft's flight to freedom is a page turner that immerses the reader in the couple’s thoughtfully planned world of secrets, disguises, and misdirection and the culture of 19th century slave owners, their human property and the abolition movement. It is a beautifully written, thoroughly researched, and compelling story of courage, love, and yearning to be free.
The New York Times Book Review - W. Caleb McDaniel
A suspenseful, sensitively rendered account of [Ellen and William Craft’s] four-day journey to the North. . . . Woo tells the story [with] a cinematic eye. She excels at setting scenes, conjuring the sensations experienced by the Crafts at each harrowing point. . . . The vivid details help Woo to convey the Crafts’ attention to every element of their plot."
The Wall Street Journal - Priscilla M. Jensen
"A narrative of such courage and resourcefulness it seems too dashing to be true. But it is. . . . The story is so richly dramatic, and Ms. Woo so skilled at spinning it out, that at times it’s a genuine nail-biter."
Imani Perry
Master Slave Husband Wife tells one of the most important stories of American slavery and freedom. With prose that is suspenseful, brilliantly detailed, historically precise, and simply gorgeous, Woo depicts the Crafts and their historic role in antebellum America stunningly. This is a story that will stay with you for a lifetime.
Manisha Sinha
"In this beautifully written and deeply researched book, Ilyon Woo has brought to life one of the most remarkable instances of a fugitive slave escape. In narrating the fantastic story of William and Ellen Craft's revolt against slavery, she has given us an entre into the exciting yet dangerous world of transatlantic abolitionism and its daring assault on slavery's regime of terror."
The New Yorker
"Woo’s history draws from a variety of sources, including the Crafts’ own account, to reconstruct a 'journey of mutual self-emancipation,' while artfully sketching the background of a nation careering toward civil war."
Library Journal
★ 12/01/2022
Historian Woo (The Great Divorce) details the daring plan that William (1824–1900) and Ellen Craft (1826–91) executed to escape the institution of slavery. The two started in Macon, GA, where they had two different enslavers. Ellen, a light-complexioned woman, dressed in the finery of a Southern, disabled man, and William, her husband, acted as her loyal servant, as they set out on a four-day, 1,000-mile journey to Philadelphia. Once there, the Crafts began a grueling tour with abolitionist speakers, where their story thrilled audiences. Eventually they settled in Boston, but the appearance of Georgia hunters, looking to return them to their enslavers, forced their move to Canada and then Britain. After the Civil War, the Crafts returned to the United States. In this superbly researched and masterfully written book, Woo gives William and Ellen Craft's story the detailed attention it so richly deserves. She expertly places their tale, especially their experiences as abolitionist speakers facing hostile and sometimes violent crowds, in the social conditions of antebellum America. VERDICT Readers interested in studies about the enslaved, abolitionism, and antebellum history should read this insightful new work.—Chad E. Statler
MARCH 2023 - AudioFile
Talented narrators Janina Edwards and Leon Nixon expertly deliver this riveting, well-researched historical account. Ellen and William Craft were an enslaved couple in antebellum Macon, Georgia. In 1848, they fled more than 1,000 miles to the North with Ellen disguised as a disabled white man and William posing as her enslaved servant. The moving true story feels like a novel, and the dual narration engages listeners even more. The performances of both Edwards and Nixon are clear and authoritative, especially as they skillfully vary their pacing to build suspense. Both narrators deliver dignified tones that capture the Crafts' courage, resilience, and enduring love. This important and compelling audiobook is full of historical details and insight. V.T.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2022-10-20
An engaging tale of one enslaved couple’s journey to freedom and a love that conquered all.
What do enduring love and devotion look like, and how can determined lovers overcome their circumstances? Woo, the author of The Great Divorce, answers those questions by taking readers on a gripping adventure with Ellen Craft (1826-1891) and William Craft (1824-1900), who risked their lives to escape slavery in Georgia in 1848. Refreshingly, the text “is not fictionalized. Every description and line of dialogue originates in historic sources, beginning with the Crafts’ own 1860 account, Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom.” With debates about slavery raging nationally, the Crafts slipped away, beginning a long, arduous journey to claim their emancipation. “No Underground Railroad assisted them out of the South,” writes the author. “They moved like clockwork harnessing the latest technologies of their day: steamboats, stagecoaches, and, above all, an actual railroad, riding tracks laid by the enslaved, empowered by their disguise as master and slave, by the reality of their love as husband and wife.” Ellen, who “could pass for White,” disguised herself as wealthy “invalid” Mr. Johnson, and William played the role of Johnson’s devoted slave. Along their journey from Macon, Georgia, and up through Philadelphia, Boston, and Halifax, they evaded nosy onlookers and determined slave catchers working under the aegis of the Fugitive Slave Act. The Crafts also joined the abolitionist speaking circuit. Speaking to packed halls, they risked being caught and returned to their owners, one of whom was Ellen’s half sister. Sheltered and celebrated by local abolitionists, the Crafts learned to trust those working within the abolitionist system. They agreed to lead public lives, and eventually, they landed in England, where they settled, started a family, and continued to share their story. Throughout, Woo’s narrative is suspenseful and wonderfully told.
A captivating tale that ably captures the determination and courage of a remarkable couple.
