After September saw the second novel by Irish writer Eimear McBride bewitch the panel of the Eason Book Club on the Pat Kenny Show, October shifts focus across the pond to America, with the new book by African-American author Colson Whitehead – The Underground Railroad. Known for his novels that read like science fiction realism, Whitehead applies his unique vision to the tale of slaves seeking freedom in the US.
Cora lives on a cotton plantation in Georgia, where life is particularly hellish for this young slave on the verge of womanhood. An outcast even among her fellow Africans, she decides to risk everything and flee with newly arrived Caesar and make a terrifying escape on the Underground Railroad – literally a network of trains and tracks running under the Georgia soil.
Chased relentlessly by Ridgeway, a slave catcher, Cora must do everything she can to convince engineers and conductors to help her on her harrowing flight, propelled by her ferocious will to escape the horrors of bondage.
The Eason Book Club panel will reach their final destination on The Underground Railroad on Thursday, October 27th on the Pat Kenny Show. You can listen back to last month’s discussion in the podcast below:
