In this week's edition of Endnotes, we take a look at Nathan Harris's Amity, which follows a formerly enslaved brother and sister in the tumultuous aftermath of the Civil War. In its review, PW says "It’s an indelible slice of postbellum border history."
Here's how the book came together:
Nathan Harris
“I was doing research when I happened upon an interesting fact: some Confederate loyalists moved to Mexico after the Civil War, many taking their former slaves with them. I also was learning about the Black Seminoles, who’d made the trek from Florida to Mexico seeking freedom for their people. The characters and story of Amity braided around these two historical incidents, the threads flowing together into one narrative.”
Emily Forland
“I was lucky enough to represent Nathan’s amazing first novel. He reached out to me when he was still at the Michener Center at UT Austin. I was delighted when he shared five chapters of Amity with me. I knew from reading his first manuscript pages that I wanted to be in the Nathan Harris business for a long time!”
Liese Mayer
“I took on Amity after Nathan had completed a round of editing with my colleague Ben George. I can’t speak to Nathan’s editorial work with Ben, but when I read Amity for the first time, I wouldn’t have suggested Nathan change another word. This is the rare sort of novel that grabs you on page one and won’t let you go until the last.”
June Park
“We discussed taking a modern approach to the historical genre, something that evokes time and place with a contemporary twist. I wanted to capture that epic feeling of the sprawling desert under the scorching sun, and the journeys June and Coleman—our formerly enslaved protagonists—undertake toward freedom, selfhood, and, ultimately, back to each other.”
