2007: #81 – A Place Called Freedom (Ken Follett)
Book #80 was A Place Called Freedom by Ken Follett. The back of the book reads:
Sentenced to a life of misery in the Scottish coal mines, twenty-one-year-old Mack McAsh hungers for escape. His only ally: beautiful high-born Lizzie Hallim, who is trapped in her own kind of hell.
In 1766, from the teeming streets of London to the infernal hold of a slave ship headed for the American colonies to a sprawling Virginia plantation, two restless young people, separated by politics and position, are bound by their search for a place called freedom….
While not as strong a piece of historical fiction as something by John Jakes or even Diana Gabaldon, Follett does a great job of keeping the pages turning. This kept me reading, even if some of the events have a slight reek of “we have got to stop meeting like this!”. Mack is not your typical serf, nor is Lizzie your typical lady.
Page count: 464 | Approximate word count: 133,318