**Winner of the American Book Award
**Silver Medalist for the California Book Award
Suck on the Marrow is a historical narrative, revolving around six
main characters and set in mid-19th century Virginia and Philadelphia.
The book traces the experiences of fugitive slaves, kidnapped
Northern-born blacks, and free people of color, exploring the
interdependence between plantation life and life in Northern and
Southern American towns and illuminating the connections between the
successes and difficulties of a wide range of Americans, free and slave,
black and white, Northern and Southern. This neo-slave narrative treats
the truths of lives touched by slavery with reverence but is not afraid
to question the ways the old stories have too often been told. In
addition to creating new stories, Suck on the Marrow develops new ways
of telling those tales.