To call Leonard Pitts’ novel, Freeman, simply moving seems somehow inadequate. Yet it moved me from tears of joy to tears of anger, from disbelief to acknowledgment. At the core it’s an epic love story, not only of the love Sam Freeman has for Tilda; an enduring love that compels him to walk thousands of miles, but the love of family as newly freed slaves search for loved ones, and self love as black men and women struggle to define their humanity and take back the dignity stolen by years of degradation. I was engrossed from the first page, at times so invested in the lives Sam, Ben, Prudence, Bonnie and Tilda, I had to put the book aside, the anticipation too great.  Mr. Pitts so completely and vividly conveyed the setting that there were a couple of nights my dreams transported me  back to the Civil War- torn South. This novel was amazing. I love my public library but  this novel warrants a visit to Amazon and a place on my bookshelf.