Ta-Nehisi Coates · 2019 · exile

Ta-Nehisi Coates's 2019 novel. Hiram Walker, born into slavery on the failing Virginia plantation of Lockless, discovers a strange power - Conduction - that can carry the enslaved across great distance. Recruited by the Underground, he escapes north to free Philadelphia and the legendary Harriet Tubman, then turns back toward Virginia to rescue the people he was forced to leave behind.

1. 1
   Lockless

   On a decaying tobacco plantation in the Virginia piedmont, Hiram Walker - the son of an enslaved woman sold away and the white master - is born into 'tasking,' gifted with perfect memory and an unexplained power tied to water.

2. 2
   Philadelphia

   After a failed escape and rescue by the Underground, Hiram is carried north to free Philadelphia, where he meets the legendary Harriet Tubman - the one other soul who shares his gift of Conduction.

3. 3
   Virginia (return)

   But freedom is not enough while his people remain enslaved, and Hiram turns back south to Lockless and the Virginia underground war, determined to carry Thena and Sophia - and others - out of bondage himself.