Staff Pick
Whitehead manages to convey the whole horrible history of slavery — the African slavers, the transatlantic passage, the slave auctions, and the toxic environment of the Southern plantation — in the first three pages of this novel, using simple language and a notable absence of melodrama. It's an artistic coup that develops into a page-turner that imagines a real underground railroad system ferrying slaves to freedom, and the slave catchers who want to see it destroyed. The Underground Railroad is full of brutality that can be hard to stomach, but its complex characters and evocation of a time and experience alien to most readers is well worth it. Recommended By Rhianna W., Powells.com