All We Were Promised – by Ashton Lattimore – independent book review – Historical Fiction (United States)

NOTE: I received early access to this manuscript and am writing this review voluntarily. Thank you netgalley and Ballantine Books. Scheduled Publication: April 2, 2024.

ALL WE WERE PROMISED is 19th century American historical fiction about women, slavery, and the abolitionist movement — centered loosely around Pennsylvania Hall in Philadelphia — an abolitionist venue which opened as a “Temple of Free Discussion” in 1838, and was torched by an anti-abolitionist mob four days later. I confess this is an event I had never heard about. Awarded three stars on Goodreads but between three and four is more accurate.

The story focuses on four women:

Charlotte: born into slavery, she and her father fled their Maryland plantation to establish a new life in Philadelphia, but success comes with heavy burdens for both and doesn’t look all that different to Charlotte.

Kate: A self-involved widow and slave owner who has fallen on hard times and comes to Philadelphia to find a husband to provide her with a more stable financial situation.

Evie: a teenage girl, enslaved by Kate, who longs to escape slavery and establish her own independent life.

Nell: a young woman passionate about abolition, whose family is part of a small, prominent, and wealthy Black community in Philadelphia.

How these four women connect and interact — sometimes with threats and deception, sometimes with trust and great risk– is the foundation to this novel. For three of the women, ALL WE WERE PROMISED is their coming-of-age story where each must explore the line between right and wrong, between truth and lies, between well-intended language and true commitment. All the while, surrounded by fierce defenders of slavery, slave catchers looking for bounties, and rampant racism.

This is Ashton Lattimore’s (a former attorney) debut novel and while the book is very well written, I also found it has what I consider some rookie flaws. The first half of the book is quite slow, though the drama does pick up significantly after that. Also, I found very heavy reliance on an omniscient narrator who wound up keeping me (as a reader) at a distance from the characters. Instead of discovering each character through the character’s own words and experiences, I found the narrator was telling me what each was thinking, feeling and experiencing. So, I wasn’t able to connect to their lives in the direct way I’d hoped, based on the book’s description.

Overall, ALL WE WERE PROMISED is an interesting glimpse into our country’s story of institutional slavery at one moment in time — in a large, supposedly free Northern city 20+ years before the Civil War. If you’re interested in the subject matter or this time period, I think you’ll learn quite a bit.

More about the author, Ashton Lattimore.