Ashes

Ashes (2016), a young adult historical novel by American author Laurie Halse Anderson, is the third and final book in the Seeds of America series. This guide refers to the 2016 Atheneum eBook edition.

Plot Summary

Isabel Gardener and Curzon Smith, two black teenagers who escaped slavery during the American Revolution, have been on the run together for five years. After serving at Valley Forge, they’re travelling through the Eastern states, looking for Isabel’s little sister Ruth, who was sold away from Isabel when the two were only children. Isabel longs to see her sister and has also developed a longing for Curzon that she can’t admit, even to herself.

When the two find Ruth, it’s not the loving reunion Isabel hopes for. Ruth, who has epilepsy and some degree of intellectual disability, is under the care of an old couple named Serafina and Walter and a young man named Aberdeen, and she’s adopted them as her new family. She rejects Isabel immediately, but Serafina and Walter persuade Ruth to go on the run with Isabel and Curzon, and Aberdeen accompanies them. Together, the children will try to start new lives as free people.