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A Novel
by Nathan Harris
Book Reviewed by:A gripping story about a brother and sister, emancipated from slavery but still searching for true freedom, and their odyssey across the deserts of Mexico to finally reunite, all while escaping a former master still intent on their bondage.
New Orleans, 1866. The Civil War might be over, but formerly enslaved Coleman and June have yet to find the freedom they've been promised. Two years ago, the siblings were separated when their old master, Mr. Harper, took June away to Mexico, where he hoped to escape the new reality of the postbellum South. Coleman stayed behind in Louisiana to serve the Harper family, clinging to the hope that one day June would return.
When an unexpected letter from Mr. Harper arrives, summoning Coleman to Mexico, Coleman thinks that finally his prayers have been answered. What Coleman cannot know is the tangled truth of June's tribulations under Mr. Harper out on the frontier. And when disaster strikes Coleman's journey, he is forced on the run with Mr. Harper's daughter, Florence. Together, they venture into the Mexican desert to find June, all the while evading two crooked brothers who'll stop at nothing to capture Coleman and Florence and collect the money they're owed. As Coleman and June separately navigate a perilous, parched landscape, the siblings learn quickly that freedom isn't always given—sometimes, it must be taken by force.
As in his New York Times bestselling debut The Sweetness of Water, Nathan Harris delves into the critical years of the Civil War's aftermath to deliver an intimate and epic tale of what freedom means in a society still determined to return its Black citizens to bondage. Populated with unforgettable characters, Amity is a vital addition to the literature of emancipation.
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (2/19/2026)
I loved Amity! I think Nathan Harris has become an auto-buy author for me. It has been exciting to see him writing distinctly different stories while staying true to the bigger message. How wonderful you got to meet the author and a true life beneficiary of the adoption program. That must have be...
-Anne_Glasgow
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (10/16/2025)
...'m only part way into it, and I'm hoping it will become as compelling as The Mountains Sing which I read with a book group some years ago. I finished Amity by Nathan Harris on audio. I liked that book almost as much as The Sweetness of Water. Harris has found a groove with sibling pairs that allows him to explore the dep...
-Robin_G
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (10-02-2025)
Having previously read and enjoyed The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris, I have just begun listening to his latest, Amity: ". . . delves into the critical years of the Civil War's aftermath to deliver an intimate and epic tale of what freedom means in a society still determined to return its B...
-Sunny
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (09-18-2025)
Yes, I read and loved both of Nathan Harris's books. If I remember correctly both are sibling stories and both are similar time period but very different from there. Sweetness is the more traditional story while Amity is what I would call almost in the western genre. Both featured stories on the ...
-Anne_Glasgow
The novel is superb historical fiction, and Harris portrays the uncertainty of the Reconstruction era in a way that suggests deep research into the time period. He also touches on Mexico's unsettled political landscape with just enough detail to satisfy readers but not so much that it bogs down the narrative pace. What really makes the book a standout, though, is the author's character development. Both Coleman and June start out dependent on their former enslavers, but over the course of the novel they learn that they have agency. Their growth occurs so gradually that from chapter to chapter one might not notice, but by the book's end it's clear they aren't who they were when they left Louisiana...continued
Full Review
(815 words)
(Reviewed by Kim Kovacs).
Andrea Barrett, author of Ship Fever and Natural History
I fell into this stunning novel as into another world, with the shock of encountering something truly original. An epic tale of a budding genius pulled through the borderlands, Amity is harrowing, often beautiful, and deeply moving. Jason Mott, National Book Award Winning author of Hell of a Book
To call Nathan Harris's Amity a standout novel doesn't do it enough justice. The writing is flawless, the characters unforgettable and, most importantly, the story the world Harris builds never lets us go. A brilliantly executed book._rose_of_jericho.jpg "Selaginella lepidophylla reviving")
In Nathan Harris's novel Amity, June, a formerly enslaved woman, is forced to relocate to the foothills of Mexico's Sierra Madre range with the man who has oppressed her since childhood. As her party nears the Rio Grande, she encounters Isaac, a young Black Seminole who lives in the area. She claims the desert through which they've been traveling is ugly, but Isaac corrects her: she just doesn't understand its beauty. He points to a plant he calls the Rose of Jericho, which appears dead but comes back to life with a little water. The plant becomes a powerful symbol of rebirth for June from that point in the narrative onward.
There are at least 130 species of resurrection plant, which can survive extreme desiccation, appearing to die ...
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