By Clark Isaacs

Freeman Walker
Author: David Allan Cates
ISBN: 978-1-932961-55-3 Pages: 304, $25.95, Publication Date: October, 2008, Hardcover, Fiction, Published by Unbridled Books

Jimmy Gates begins his journey through the mystery of life with one great disadvantage; he is a mulatto! Set in the 1860’s during a period of time when it was not unusual for slave owners to have relations with their slaves; this book portrays this relationship with a keen insight into how it might have been back then. Freeman Walker is the third novel by David Allan Cates whose previous works were X out of Wonderland and Hunger in America which were recognized as a New York Times Notable Book and a Montana Book Award Honor Book.

Freeman Walker is a fast paced novel which moves from America to England where he is enrolled in an English gentlemen’s school to obtain a proper education. Born of a white father and a black mother his appearance can be distinctly either black or white depending upon how he combs his hair. After the death of his father, he has to fend for himself. He earns funds to return to the Civil War to find and free his mother whom he had left behind. Changing his name from Jimmy Gates to Freeman Walker he does exactly what the name implies, he walks through history to find peace in his life as a free man!

After the civil war, Walker travels west to seek a new life. He meets up with several colorful characters and becomes the center of attention because of his command of English and ability to write. The territorial governor sees in him a person who is endowed with a keen intellect and an ability to be far more than a fallen down drunk which he had become. Rising up from the gutter, literally, he is placed in a position where he can be a leading respected citizen. I recommend this book, as it will take the reader on a challenging journey page after page and does not disappoint when it ends.