My next book is A Most Perilous World: The True Story of the Young Abolitionists and their Crusade Against Slavery, and will be published by Dutton Young Readers in June 2025. The book tells the story of the latest period of the abolition movement through the eyes of the four young adult children of prominent abolitionists. Set before and during the Civil War, I aim to tell a surprisingly contemporary braided coming-of-age narrative exploring questions like: what does it mean to be part of a resistance movement? what is my role in that resistance; and is the movement radical enough? 

Lucy McKim, Charlotte Forten, Lewis Douglass, and George Garrison are my main characters, and were strongly committed to the anti-slavery cause. Their parents and relatives--Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Lucretia Mott, Robert Forten, and James Miller McKim--were some of the most active anti-slavery crusaders in the years leading up to the Civil War. So just as important as being a part of the cause, they felt just they needed to make their own names, away from the often over-protective or disapproving shadows of the famous adults in their lives.

Their parents’ radical ideas meant that these young people had radical upbringings. Boys and girls studied in the same classrooms and schools were not segregated by race. They learned it was perfectly fine to harshly criticize the government. These young people were as committed to the anti-slavery cause as their parents, and joined the army, promoted Black culture, and fought for what they believed in. 

While researching my book Well of Souls: Uncovering the Banjo’s Hidden History, I came across the story of Lucy McKim, and how at 19 she joined her father in South Carolina during the Civil War. Her father helped John Brown’s widow retrieve his body from Harper’s Ferry and yet when Lucy actually saw slavery (not just self-emancipated people coming to their home as they made their way north), she wrote to her mother, “How lukewarm we have been.” That gives me chills--militant abolition was too lukewarm. She believed in the abolition of slavery, and the promotion of Black culture, and she went on to co-edit Slave Songs of the United States, the first book of Black music in U.S. history.

I love the idea that she, her friends, and other children of activists held unpopular ideas (like abolition and equal rights), and weren’t afraid to stand up for those ideas. Frederick Douglass’s sons Lewis and Fred Jr. helped their father’s abolitionist cause in so many ways, yet have never been thoroughly researched or written about. Given the Black Lives Matter protests and the ridiculous attacks on history through the banning of “Critical Race Theory,” I don’t think there’s a better time for this book.

As with Well of Souls and Flowers in the Gutter, I want to fully immerse my readers in the lives and viewpoints of these characters, and have spent countless hours reading 19th century letters and diaries from Lucy, Charlotte, Lewis, George, and their friends and family to bring their world to life in a way that readers today will connect with. 

Advance Praise

“Impeccable research and incredible details bring the stories of these four young people (two white and two Black) to life as they come of age in the years leading up to and during the Civil War. The inclusion of surprisingly relevant primary source materials will draw readers in, allowing them to connect the dots from this nation’s dark past to today and furthermore to arm themselves with information to work toward a brighter future.” —Kip Wilson, award-winning author of White Rose