Exploring Historical Fiction: North of Impossible
Eighteen-year-old Ptolemy Freeman is a mechanical genius living in Boston with his ne’er do well brother during the worst winter he’s ever experienced. It’s an unforgiving place but to a freed slave it seems like an Eden of opportunity. It’s also a far cry from the South Carolina rice plantation he’d been born on. But even with everything he’s ever wanted just within his reach he can’t stop thinking of the girl he left behind. Seventeen-year-old Sarah Morning has never met anyone whose skin she didn’t get under. She’s turned keeping people at a distance into an art and even though she can recite Homer’s Iliad in English, Greek and French she’s still a slave, and skin as pale as the women she serves won’t change that. So she works quietly, serves diligently, and tries every day to turn her aching heart to stone. But when her mistress receives a mysterious letter from the boy she can’t seem to forget, everything changes and she starts to do the most dangerous thing she’s ever done…hope. Follow Ptolemy and Sarah through secret letters, a heist, and two jailbreaks as they battle slave catchers, their own families and each other in order to be together again.
Activities:
Write an alternate epilogue. What do you think could have happened differently for the couple once they arrive in Philadelphia?
Write a letter to the couple from the perspective of one of the characters “left behind”.
Imagine you’re the editor of an independent newspaper during the 1850’s. Write an article retelling the story of Ptolemy and Sarah. You can pretend you’ve interviewed the couple or heard the story secondhand.
Imagine your’e an abolitionist and you’ve gathered your supporters for a meeting. Write a speech that supports the end of slavery where Ptolemy and Sarah’s story is detailed.
Discussion Questions:
Sarah is “saved” by her mistress in Chapter 1. What is implied that she is afraid of?
Sarah is taught to read. Why? Why are the benefits or drawbacks of teaching an enslaved person to read?
At first Sarah believes people who run away are foolish. Why?
Ptolemy’s brother is light enough to pass for white. What benefits or drawbacks does this afford him?
In 1850’s there is a community of free black people. Compare and contrast their lives to those of the people in South Carolina.
Charles Williams emancipates his son upon his death. What does this mean?
Does Athena love Sarah? Use evidence to argue your point either way.
Ptolemy had been hired rather than kept on the plantation. How did that shape how he saw himself?
Fred escapes to Canada. Why didn’t Ptolemy do the same?
Lydie was born free. How did that shape who she was?
Both Ptolemy’s and Sarah’s plans require costumes. How did each change help to conceal who they really were?
How did the people at the wedding party resemble the slaveholders in Charleston?
Why did Ceasar seem to fit in with the people at the wedding party?
Athena didn’t like the changes she saw in Sarah once she began working outside the home. What were those changes?
