A review by kbaj
Chariot on the Mountain by Jack Ford

2.0

This book professes to be the story of Kitty, a historical formerly enslaved woman who sued her white kidnapper, but it is more meaningfully about her former owner, Mary Maddox. Despite following Kitty's story, Mary becomes the real hero in this book, and that's a quite uncomfortable fact. Mary enslaved Kitty (and many others) for at least twenty-five years before deciding to free her, but this whole book is dedicated to lauding her for how brave, how kind, how generous she is for freeing Kitty. Almost every character tells Kitty how lucky she is, and how thankful she should be, for having such a kind "friend." I find that hard to believe. The author also changes the facts of Kitty's story to make Mary a greater hero; instead of escorting Kitty and her children to Pennsylvania after having legally manumitted them, the author has it so that Mary guides them on the dangerous Underground Railroad before having legally freed them. Just so that we readers really understand what a great person this slaveowner was.