The Freedom Game

Inspired by the actual events of the Slave Revolt of 1842 when twenty-five slaves managed a daring escape from a Cherokee plantation in the Indian Territory. The Freedom Game imagines the personalities and details of this remarkable piece of American slave history.

Book Boy, a brilliant young slave in the Cherokee Territory, longs to live in freedom with his love, Misty. He is called Book Boy because of his unique ability to read and write, skills strictly prohibited under the harsh Cherokee slave laws. Calling on all of his skills and ingenuity, he engineers the escape of twenty-five slaves from the plantation where he was raised, the only home he has ever known. 

Guided by Jumping Ben, a courageous Cherokee hunter who risks everything to help the desperate slaves, they quit the Indian Territory, and head for Mexico, where slavery has been abolished.

Both natural obstacles and human enemies conspire to make their journey through the wilderness to freedom an extremely dangerous one. As the romance between Book Boy and Misty blossoms, it is complicated by the hardships they must face, and by the desires of another slave, Millie, whose affections for Book Boy will not be denied. 

 "... this book is based on the true story of events of the Slave Revolt of 1842, when twenty-five slaves successfully escaped from a Cherokee plantation.

...  their sojourn to freedom thus examines not only slavery's issues but the cultural clashes between races and ideals of the times. It's especially powerful in offering many insights into Native American involvements in slavery that will be lesser-known facts to most readers.

Young adults receive a vivid, engrossing examination that includes solid psychological depth because the characters don't just operate under conflicted and challenging social and political circumstances, but confront the progress of their own lives and interrelationships ... 

The Freedom Game personalizes political and cultural clashes and makes them vivid and engrossing, winding them into local atmosphere for good measure and addressing the kinds of changes that lead individuals to become transformed with new options and the promise of new lives...

Very highly recommended!​"

- D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review