Summary

The novel opens with Raven Quickskill’s poem “Flight to Canada,” which concerns Quickskill’s happiness at having escaped from slave-owner Arthur Swille. Quickskill says in the poem that he has escaped to Canada. The narrative then transitions to a time after the main narrative of the novel. Quickskill reflects upon the success of his poem, “Flight to Canada,” and he thinks about the legacy of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Stowe became famous for writing the novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” but then sparked bitter controversy by alleging that famous author Lord Byron had sexual relations with his sister. Quickskill sees Stowe’s subsequent fall in popularity as her comeuppance fro stealing the story of former slave Josiah Henson and profiting from it by adapting it into “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” Quickskill has returned to the Virginia estate of his now-deceased former owner, Arthur...