The Underground Railroad is the story of Cora, a slave in Georgia who strives to be free, and the many trials she faces in her attempt. Beneath the surface of Cora’s story is that of Mabel, her mother, who fled the plantation where the two of them lived when Cora was 9. Mabel’s neglect to bring Cora with her is a sore spot that never quite leaves Cora; it’s something that she measures her decisions by, almost like a guiding North star.

The story is a fascinating attempt to reflect on real history through a kind of low-fantasy perspective. It’s not immediately obvious, but the world Cora inhabits is ahistorical. She discovers an attempted experiment at progressive race relations in South Carolina, for example - that experiment never happened, and is only loosely based in real-world events that happened much later in history. The purpose here is not to educate the reader in historical fact, but rather to explore the many different approaches to race relations that are, even in contemporary times, still in play. In each state Cora visits, she discovers a completely different framework for race relations, as though she is actually traveling through various modes of thought in physical space. It’s a surreal literary approach - a subtle and effective one. Moreover, this idea nicely complements the idea of the underground railroad as a literal railroad with actual tunnels burrowing for hundreds miles throughout the South. It is as though the entire nation is one great body, and the railroad its veins, conducting a vast number of souls from one mental state to another. The extended metaphor is unique, imaginative, and extraordinary. For that reason alone this book is stunning.

There is something a little cloying about the actual plot, though. It is a little too cut and dry, a little too pedantic. The characters are simple, nearly one-dimensional. Cora, whose narrative we hear in all its complexity, has minor and relatable flaws but is otherwise a saint. The slave catcher Ridgeway, her arch-nemesis, is sympathetic after a fashion, but ultimately a plain and simple villain. For a book animated by such a groundbreaking central concept, the story falls disappointingly flat.

Still, the idea behind this book is simply too fascinating to set aside. I’ve read many stories set in this time period - this one is easily one of the most captivating and worthwhile.