Thanks to One World Books for the free advance copy of this book.

Hiram was born a slave. When he survives a near-death experience, he becomes hyper-focused on freedom. He finds himself linked up with the Underground, a covert movement working to free slaves and bring them north. Hiram never forgets the people he left behind and is willing to do whatever it takes to free them as well.

On first glance, THE WATER DANCER appears to be a standard runaway slave narrative. However, rather than focusing on the physical pain of slavery, this book is a study of the mental pain - particularly the pain of being separated, over and over, from family and loved ones.

I did find it to be a bit slow moving. Hiram is usually kept in the dark about the Underground's plans until the moment they are executed, which means the reader is as well, so in effect a lot of the action takes place off the page. On the other hand, the imagery and mechanics of the magical realism elements were just incredible - images I’ve never encountered before in any book.

I also found the underlying discussion of people's motives for doing abolitionist work, particularly for Corinne and the other white women, quite interesting.