The Good Lord Bird
A boy freed by John Brown is mistaken for a girl, and decides not to correct anyone for years.
Henry Shackleford is a boy in Kansas in 1856 when John Brown’s men shoot up his master’s tavern, free him by accident, and mistake him for a girl. He stays a girl for years, riding with Brown’s ragged army all the way to Harpers Ferry. McBride writes Brown as neither saint nor lunatic but something harder to place, and the comedy never softens the violence. It won the National Book Award in 2013.
Recommended by 1 Person
Nathan Harris
This is McBride at his best, blending historical fiction of the highest order with his signature sense of humor.
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