Walk Through Darkness [Paperback]

David Anthony Durham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 12, 2003

When he learns that his pregnant wife has been spirited off to a distant city, William responds as any man might—he drops everything to pursue her. But as a fugitive slave in Antebellum America, he must run a terrifying gauntlet, eluding the many who would re-enslave him while learning to trust the few who dare to aid him on his quest.

Among those hunting William is Morrison, a Scot who as a young man fled the miseries of his homeland only to discover even more brutal realities in the New World. Bearing many scars, including the loss of his beloved brother, Morrison tracks William for reasons of his own, a personal agenda rooted in tragic events that have haunted him for decades.

Following up on his award-winning debut, Gabriel’s Story, David Anthony Durham presents another riveting tale, a brilliantly drawn portrait of America before the Civil War, and a provocative meditation on racial identity, freedom and equality.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Powerfully written and emotionally devastating, this new novel by Durham (Gabriel's Story) tells the parallel tales of two men in antebellum America: William, a young fugitive slave, and Morrison, a white man hired to track him. William escapes from Maryland and makes his way toward Philadelphia in search of his pregnant wife, Dover. Morrison, an older Scottish immigrant, has lived a hard, violent life he's not proud of, whose dark secrets such as his responsibility for the death of his brother slowly emerge as the story unwinds. During his hair-raising flight, William is captured by unscrupulous bounty hunters and threatened with discovery at every turn. He risks his life again and again because "there were regions within him upon which no claim of ownership had hold," and because he wants to find his wife and be a free man. The abominable treatment of slaves is always in the foreground, but Durham never succumbs to sentimentality. In one particularly grueling scene, Morrison learns of the tortures to be inflicted on a black prisoner before he is put to death, and he mercifully ends the man's life. In the thrilling climax, Morrison reveals an unexpected tie that binds him to William and makes a gesture that he hopes will redeem his sins. Durham's writing is forceful and full of startling imagery as he testifies to the courage (and sometimes the ambivalence) of people who, in one way or another, rebelled against the great injustice in American history.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In his second novel (after Gabriel's Story), set shortly before the Civil War, Durham skillfully interweaves the stories of two men, each searching for something essential in his life. William, a Maryland slave, has been hired out to an extremely cruel master. When he receives word that his wife, Dover, is pregnant and has gone to Philadelphia, accompanying her owner's wife, William sees all his hopes and dreams vanishing and runs away to find Dover, their unborn child, and freedom. The journey is perilous he is captured twice and when he does reach Philadelphia he has no idea how to find Dover or what to do next. William's story alternates with that of Andrew Morrison, an old Scot, with both narratives smoothly blended into a whole. His quest is for redemption and is as emotionally painful as William's. Despite the vividly described obstacles and hardships, this is a love story portraying the bonds between man and woman, parent and child, brother and brother, and man and animal. Durham tells a compelling story, deftly rendering both tenderness and brutality. Recommended for all public libraries. Ann Fleury, Tampa-Hillsborough P.L., FL
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Anchor (August 12, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 038572036X
• ISBN-13: 978-0385720366
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,092,358 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful and Intense, August 30, 2002

By 

Nicole McCurty (Chesapeake, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Walk Through Darkness (Hardcover)

Very rarely do I read novels about slavery, but the excerpt really drew me in. I had to find out what happened to William, a runway slave, in his quest to find his wife, Dover, who has been sent to live with her mistress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (a free state). When William discovers what has happened, he flees with his master, trackers and a mysterious white man hot on his trail. Along the way, William will encounter various people. Some will be of help and others a hindrance, but William is determined to see his love again.

I found myself tearful while reading the atrocities that black men and women were forced to endure in this novel. But this story was about so much more than that. It is an expression of the tenacity of the human spirit to survive even in the worst conditions. It is a representation of a body imprisoned with chains, but a mind free to think and dream. It is a testimony that love can conquer all.

If you want to read a story about slavery, you will like this one. But if you want to read a story of love, hate, kindness, betrayal, hope, tragedy, imprisonment and above all freedom, then you will not be able to put this one down.

Reviewed by Nicole
APOOO BookClub

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How did I love this book? Let me count the ways...., December 2, 2002

By 

Richard E. Hourula (Berkeley, CA. United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Walk Through Darkness (Hardcover)

As he did with his first book, Gabriel's Story, Durham has provided readers with a book that works on many levels. First of all it's a hell of a story. This is an exciting adventure, an intelligent page-turner. Interesting, well-drawn characters, who, like people in "real life," can act in unpredicted ways. These characters rank with those created by Charles Frazier in "Cold Mountain."
If you've ever grappled with imagining the lives of slaves in 19th century America, their struggles and the response of whites to them, reading "Walk Through Darkness" will help.
The story concerns a slave, William, escaping a cruel master and his search for his pregnant lover. Durham intersperses this tale with relentless pursuit of the protaganist by a tracker.
While spinning this fascinating yarn, Durham offers a hard look at a time and place not so distant and the attitudes that pervaded American life.
This is Durham's second book, following the fantastic "Gabriel's Story". He is two for two, having hit both out of the ballpark.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars And from the darkness shall come light, June 27, 2002

By 

The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers (RAWSISTAZ.com and BlackBookReviews.net) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Walk Through Darkness (Hardcover)

Not every book has the ability to affect the reader as deeply as Walk Through Darkness affected me. David Anthony Durham, author of the critically acclaimed Gabriel's Story, has written a haunting novel about William, a fugitive slave. One may surmise that the force behind William's escape is freedom. Freedom is, of course, part of the reason William flees his harsh laborious conditions. But even moreso is his desire to find Dover, his wife, who is pregnant with his child and has moved North to freedom with her mistress. The story alternates between William's point of view and Morrison's, a Scottish slave tracker. Somehow these three people, who are separated by miles and life experience, are connected.

Durham's writing is refined, articulate, and descriptive. He makes you feel the fear, terror, relief, pain, joy, and a plethora of other emotions felt by the protagonists. The characters are in no way shallow, instead powerfully constructed with a certain profundity. The author uses a historical setting and breathes new life into it, providing the reader with a raw, fresh story in lands never traversed. Transcending race, time, and status, this Walk Through Darkness will make anyone see the light...