Amity

Set in the aftermath of the American Civil War, the novel follows Coleman, a formerly enslaved man working as a servant in New Orleans, and his sister June, taken to Mexico by their enslaver, as both navigate perilous journeys toward freedom and reunion. The narrative alternates between Coleman's first-person account of his 1866 voyage to find June and third-person chapters depicting June's experiences in Mexico from 1864 onward, converging in an epilogue set in Texas.

Coleman describes his circumscribed life in Mrs. Harper's New Orleans household. Freed after the war but lacking resources, he remained in his same role, tending to the melodramatic Mrs. Harper and her daughter Florence. His few pleasures include Mrs. Harper's library, an attic room, and Oliver, a terrier nominally Florence's but entirely in Coleman's care. Years earlier, Wyatt Harper, Florence's father, joined Confederate sympathizers fleeing to Mexico, taking June as his personal servant and sending the rest of the family to New Orleans. Harper had developed a possessive fixation on June, favoring her over his own daughter. Coleman recalls June asking him to flee with her before her departure, an offer he refused out of fear, a decision that still haunts him.

The household is upended when a menacing stranger named Amos Turlow delivers a letter from Harper, seemingly asking the family to join him in Mexico. They board a steamboat called The Jubilee. During the voyage, Turlow shows Coleman the actual letter: Harper has no interest in reuniting with his family. June has fled his dwelling, and Harper wants only Coleman delivered as bait to lure her back. Mrs. Harper's belief that her husband wants the family together is self-delusion.

In alternating chapters, June's story unfolds. In 1864, she travels with Harper's caravan through Texas into Mexico. Harper keeps her possessively close. June reflects on the successive traumas of her life, including an "unnameable thing" Harper did to her, and the deal she struck with herself: She would tolerate everything as long as Harper kept his cruelty away from Coleman. At an abandoned fort, she encounters Isaac, a Black man riding with a group of Indians, who shows her the Rose of Jericho, a resurrection plant that appears dead but revives with water. The caravan crosses violently into Mexico, and June feels reborn.

On The Jubilee's final night, a fire erupts in the boiler room. Mrs. Harper rushes back to her cabin for possessions and never returns. Turlow helps Coleman and Oliver escape through brutal means, dropping the non-swimming Coleman into the ocean. Coleman paddles to a rescue boat by mimicking Oliver's strokes. Florence is already aboard, devastated: Her mother is dead.

In Bagdad, Mexico, Turlow locks Coleman and Florence in a room in his brother Cyrus's house. Florence engineers their escape by screaming that Coleman is assaulting her; when Cyrus bursts in, Coleman douses him with a chamber pot while Florence stabs his foot with a dagger from her mother's trunk. They flee and find William Free, a guide of Tonkawa and white heritage, a former military scout. Florence offers him everything in Mrs. Harper's trunk in exchange for guiding them north toward the mines where Harper was last known to be. William agrees.

During the journey, Coleman is seized by traumatic memories of Harper's cruelty. He and Florence argue bitterly but reach a fragile understanding when Florence admits she cares about him. Their peace shatters when the Turlow brothers and Mexican soldiers capture the entire party.

Meanwhile, June's chapters trace her growing connection with Isaac near the mines. After they are spotted kissing, Harper relocates June to the mines. On the journey she asserts her freedom, refusing to continue. That night she takes provisions she has secretly prepared and escapes into the desert, following Isaac's landmarks. It is later revealed that Harper had discovered an earlier escape attempt by June and threatened to kill Coleman, which is why she originally accompanied Harper to Mexico: to remove the threat from her brother's life.

June arrives at Amity, a community of Black Seminoles, people of African and Native American descent who fled Florida and settled in Mexico, cooperating with Indian allies in exchange for land. Isaac welcomes her. The Sisters, as the women of Amity call themselves, become her support system. Isaac takes her to a secret burial site honoring his father, a runaway who helped found the community. In a quiet ceremony by candlelight, June confronts her memories of Coleman and recognizes she must release her possessive fear of losing him. She and Isaac become intimate.

Coleman's party is brought to the Birdcage, a garrison commanded by General Chavez. The General condemns the Turlows, questions Coleman about resisting white encroachment, and is disappointed when Coleman admits he knows only how to clean furniture and set tables. When the General's daughter takes a liking to Oliver, Coleman persuades her that a dog bonds with one owner for life and she deserves her own puppy. The General sends the party toward the mines to investigate corruption, with Turlow in chains.

Before dawn, Turlow breaks free, killing soldiers and striking William. He forces Coleman and Florence into the wagon, kicking Oliver away. Florence attacks Turlow, and Coleman pulls him from the driver's seat into the path of the horses. The wagon runs over Turlow and overturns. William later appears, battered but carrying Oliver, and kills the incapacitated Turlow.

The survivors reach a settlement where former members of Harper's caravan confirm June fled north and Harper went mad. William parts ways, giving Coleman his compass; Coleman resists, but Florence insists he accept. Coleman and Florence find Harper in a lone tent, starved and incoherent. Florence tells him Mrs. Harper died on the journey to find him and places her mother's shoes in his hands. Coleman tells Harper he will never see June again, that his cruelty was unforgivable, and that this squalor is the home he deserves. Both walk out.

Coleman and Florence ride northeast alone, growing weaker. Coleman hallucinates, seeing ghosts of the dead and figures he takes for ancestors. He crests a final hill and is found by men from Amity who know June. They bring him to the settlement, where June sees her brother and rushes to him. Coleman weeps, calling her "Sis" for the first time in years. He observes that June has changed: She is older, hardened by the elements, but her eyes hold no fear. The women of Amity surround him, and he lets their warmth wash over him.

Two years later, June, Isaac, and Coleman have settled in Drakesville, Texas, near Isaac's brother Moses, having left as Amity's political situation deteriorated. Florence departed for Louisiana, permanently ceding Oliver to Coleman, and later sent crates of books she had secretly protected for him in Mrs. Harper's attic by telling her mother the books held sentimental value. Coleman has been writing obsessively, processing his trauma in solitude. One bright morning he emerges smiling and asks June to help with his hair, their old ritual. He tells her the journey broke him but that he has written everything down. He asks to read his account to her, hoping the act will free him and restore their bond, and asks that she think of her own story so she can one day share it too. Coleman opens his notebook and reads the novel's opening lines, revealing that the entire book has been his memoir, read to his sister in their new home.