Knotted Rope, The

Broken Trail, a white boy adopted by the Oneida First Nation and brought up to be a warrior, has seen much injustice done to his adoptive people and even more suffered by the Black slaves who spend their lives in bondage. The year is 1793, the year in which a new law is passed to gradually end slavery in Upper Canada. The new law is not perfect; it will leave hundreds still in slavery for the rest of their lives. But it is enough to make many slave owners afraid that their investment in slaves will soon be worth nothing. No wanting to lose money, they sell their slaves to dealers to take to slave markets in the United States. When a twelve-year-old girl, Rosa, and her father are sold to a slave dealer, Broken Trail has a plan that will not only rescue them from the slave dealer but also make them free for life. But where has the slave dealer taken Rosa and her father? Broken Trail embarks a dangerous search for the place where slaves are confined until they can be shipped across the border. The danger is great, and Broken Trail finds more than he expected.

JEAN RAE BAXTER writes both for an adult general audience and for young adults. Her five-volume “ Forging a Nation” series of young adult novels about the United Empire Loyalists and their First Nations allies has won many awards. Visit her website at www.jeanraebaxter.ca..