{"product_id":"the-underground-railroad-1","title":"Underground Railroad","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER and a NEW YORK TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER FOR FICTION 2016\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLonglisted for the 2017 Man Booker Prize\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eCora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. All the slaves lead a hellish existence, but Cora has it worse than most; she is an outcast even among her fellow Africans and she is approaching womanhood, where it is clear even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a slave recently arrived from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they take the perilous decision to escape to the North.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn Whitehead's razor-sharp imagining of the antebellum South, the Underground Railroad has assumed a physical form: a dilapidated box car pulled along subterranean tracks by a steam locomotive, picking up fugitives wherever it can. Cora and Caesar's first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven. But its placid surface masks an infernal scheme designed for its unknowing black inhabitants. And even worse: Ridgeway, the relentless slave catcher sent to find Cora, is close on their heels. Forced to flee again, Cora embarks on a harrowing flight, state by state, seeking true freedom.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAt each stop on her journey, Cora encounters a different world. As Whitehead brilliantly recreates the unique terrors for black people in the pre-Civil War era, his narrative seamlessly weaves the saga of America, from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Underground Railroad\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is at once the story of one woman's ferocious will to escape the horrors of bondage and a shatteringly powerful meditation on history.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Colson Whitehead","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42187102617769,"sku":"9780708898406","price":7.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0424\/9518\/0962\/products\/under_d8070622-9e64-4310-9f77-be17084c7125.jpg?v=1651795468","url":"https:\/\/roseyravelstonbooks.com.au\/products\/the-underground-railroad-1","provider":"RoseyRavelston Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}