Come August, Come Freedom: The Bellows, The Gallows, and The Black General Gabriel

Amateau, Gigi

ISBN 10: 1469206439 ISBN 13: 9781469206431

Publisher: Candlewick on Brilliance Audio, 2012

Synopsis

Born a slave in 1776, Gabriel grows up capable and literate only to be taken from his mother and sent to the capital city as a blacksmith’s apprentice. There in the forge, a meeting point for many travelers and news bearers, his work awakens him to the sparks of resistance that are igniting into rebellion around the globe.

When he is unable to both defend the love of his life and earn the money to buy her freedom, and with the news of Toussaint’s successful rebellion against Haiti’s slave masters ringing in his ears, Gabriel makes a decision: freedom for just his own family would not be enough. Using the forge to turn pitchforks into swords and his eloquence to turn dreams into rallying cries, Gabriel plots a rebellion involving thousands of slaves, free blacks, poor whites, and Native Americans. To those excluded from the promise of the Revolution, Gabriel intends to bring liberty.

Interwoven with authentic original documents, this poignant, illuminating novel about a major figure in African-American history gives a personal face to a remarkable moment in our past that is little known but should be long remembered.

About this title

About the Author

Gigi Amateau is the author of A Certain Strain of Peculiar, Chancey Georgia Tate. She lives in Bon Air, Virginia.

Review

Amateau’s prose is appropriately passionate, but it’s tempered with disciplined restraint and moments of startling delicacy. Although the subject of this title will call to historical fiction readers who appreciate such thoughtful works as M. T. Anderson’s Octavian Nothing (BCCB 11/06), teens who approach history with the poetic insight of Marilyn Nelson will also find Amateau’s chronicle rewarding.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (starred review)

Based on a true story of planned rebellion by “Prosser’s Gabriel,” Amateau deftly tucks well-researched period documents into the narrative at opportune moments. Her use of language is both startling and gratifying . . . an anguished tale told with poetry and heart.
—Kirkus Reviews

In this beautifully written novel, Amateau makes Gabriel a fully realized character fighting not just for an abstract ideal of liberty but also for the freedom of Nanny and their future family. Amateau also makes good use of primary sources, sprinkling actual documents throughout the text. As did M. T. Anderson in his Octavian Nothing volumes (rev. 9/06; 9/08) and Kimberly Brubaker Bradley in Jefferson’s Sons (rev. 1/12), Amateau takes a long look at the tricky business of liberty in a new nation dedicated to freedom.
—Horn Book

The thrilling role of the unrecognized young hero will grab teen readers.
—Booklist

About this edition

• Publisher: Candlewick on Brilliance Audio
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1469206439
• ISBN 13: 9781469206431
• Binding: MP3 CD