JEFFREY LENT

In 1838, Blood, a roving trader, wins a young girl named Sally in a card game, opens a tavern, and deals with his two half-brothers, who arrive in his northern New Hampshire town looking for trouble.

Norman Pelham, a wounded soldier making his way home to Vermont after the Civil War, wants only to settle down and be a farmer. En route, he encounters a runaway slave named Leah, who joins him on the journey. Eventually, they marry, encounter racism, and raise children who pass for white until their son Foster returns to North Carolina and learns the truth about the family. A New York Times Notable Book for the year 2000.