Main Point Books welcomes debut author Ashton Lattimore in celebration of "All We Were Promised," a historical novel set in pre-Civil War Philadelphia. She'll be joined by special guest Janet Benton, author of "Lilli de Jong."
This is a free event; registration is request via Eventbrite. Walk-ins are welcome as seats are available. The event will be in our lower level event space. Signed books can be pre-purchased through Eventbrite or the store's website; you can pick them up at the event, at the store, or have them mailed anywhere in the U.S.
In All We Were Promised, Ashton Lattimore delivers an explosive debut novel which recreates the turbulent city of Philadelphia only two decades before the Civil War. Nineteenth century America has never felt so gripping or alive." —Michelle Moran, International bestselling author of Nefertiti
About the Book
Philadelphia, 1837. After Charlotte escaped from the crumbling White Oaks plantation down South, she’d expected freedom to feel different from her former life as an enslaved housemaid. After all, Philadelphia is supposed to be the birthplace of American liberty. Instead, she’s locked away playing servant to her white-passing father, as they both attempt to hide their identities from slavecatchers who would destroy their new lives.
Longing to break away, Charlotte befriends Nell, a budding abolitionist from one of Philadelphia’s wealthiest Black families. Just as Charlotte starts to envision a future, a familiar face from her past reappears: Evie, her friend from White Oaks, has been brought to the city by the plantation mistress, and she’s desperate to escape. But as Charlotte and Nell conspire to rescue her, in a city engulfed by race riots and attacks on abolitionists, they soon discover that fighting for Evie’s freedom may cost them their own.
About the Author
Ashton Lattimore is an award-winning journalist and a former lawyer. She is the editor-in-chief at Prism, a nonprofit news outlet by and for communities of color, and her nonfiction writing has also appeared in the Washington Post, Slate, CNN, and Essence. Lattimore is a graduate of Harvard College, Harvard Law School, and Columbia Journalism School. She grew up in New Jersey, and now lives in suburban Philadelphia with her husband and their two sons. All We Were Promised is her first novel.