Inspired by true, long-buried stories of enslaved people who dared to fight back, a searing portrayal of resistance for readers of Colson Whitehead, Jesmyn Ward, and Percival Everett, from Clay Cane, award-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author of The Grift.

In the midst of the Civil War, another war brews among the enslaved who are living and enduring in the shadow of the plantations—imposing monuments to power and tyranny. Their interconnected journeys of rebellion and kinship unite them in a long-seething need for justice. In an ultimate act of revolution, they will get it.

Luke, intelligent and literate, and Henri, a man with a strong and defiant spirit, forge an unbreakable bond at Magnolia Row in Virginia. Both seek escape from unimaginable cruelty. And sure as the fires of hell, Luke and Henri will leave their mark, sparking future uprisings. Like Josephine, a young, sharp, and observant girl who wields silence as her greatest weapon. She listens, watches, waits. Her vow is  They gonna remember us. Also, Charity Butler has successfully fought for her freedom, but battles against a deeply unjust system and a future abolitionist. Then there is Nathaniel, a Black enslaver whose existence disturbs the very nature of bondage. His rule is both fragile and contradictory, setting off a collision of resistance that will shape their fates.

When these souls and those of others—oppressed and oppressors alike—collide, a visceral and indelible portrait of love, brutality, betrayal, and identity comes unsparingly to life. Inspired by the true stories of the profoundly courageous men and women who dared to fight back against the barbarism of the era, Burn Down Master’s House is a singular tour de force of a novel—breathtaking in scope, compassion, righteousness, and timely defiance.

What a powerful read, and what a way to close out Black History Month. This book kept me glued to the pages. It’s tough to read, but it’s also incredibly satisfying watching enslaved people finally rise up and fight back. The white people in these stories got exactly what they deserved.

The book takes place during the Civil War era and follows multiple enslaved people across different plantations in the South. There are four separate stories, but they are all connected. One story leads into the next, and you start to see how these characters’ lives intersect and how their choices ripple outward.

We follow several different people throughout the book. Two men form a deep bond while enduring horrific treatment at a Virginia plantation. There’s a young girl who’s incredibly observant and uses what she sees and hears to her advantage later in life. We also have a woman who managed to buy her freedom but later finds herself fighting against a system designed to keep her down. And finally a Black man who somehow ended up enslaving other Black people, which creates its own complicated and disturbing dynamic.

What makes this book work so well is how Cane weaves these stories together. You might read about one character in the first story, and then see them pop up in a later story, or see how their actions affected someone else three stories later. It all builds toward a crescendo of resistance and rebellion that feels inevitable and necessary.

This is inspired by true stories of people who actually fought back during this era. Real uprisings and real acts of resistance. Cane honors their courage by telling these stories with the weight and respect they deserve.

The foolishness and white entitlement is on full display here, and it’s infuriating. The enslavers are depicted exactly as they were. Cruel, entitled, delusional, and convinced of their own righteousness. They justify their violence with religion. They convince themselves that the people they’re enslaving are somehow less than human. And they punish even the smallest acts of defiance with brutal violence. Cane doesn’t soften any of it. He shows you exactly what these people were capable of and exactly how they justified it to themselves.

The violence in this book is real and unflinching. There are scenes that are hard to read. But they’re necessary. This actually happened. Real people lived through this. Real people endured unimaginable cruelty and still found the strength to resist. Their stories deserve to be told honestly, without sanitizing or softening the reality of what they faced.

But this book isn’t just about documenting atrocities. It’s about showing people who refused to accept their circumstances. People who found ways to resist, to sabotage, to fight back. Some acts of resistance are small. Some are massive. But all of them matter. And watching these characters reclaim their power and their humanity is deeply satisfying.

Cane has written something bold and necessary. This is an important piece of literature and it’s one everyone should read. Trust me when I say it will enrage you. The injustice is maddening. The cruelty is heartbreaking. But it will also make you cheer. Watching oppressed people fight back and watching their oppressors get exactly what they deserve is incredibly cathartic.

If you’re looking for historical fiction that doesn’t sanitize the past, pick this up. If you want stories about resistance and the courage it takes to fight back against oppressive power, pick this up. This is one of the most powerful and important books I’ve read this year.

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