Ilyon Woo is the author of The Great Divorce: A Nineteenth-Century Mother's Extraordinary Fight Against Her Husband, the Shakers, and Her Times and the recipient of a Whiting Creative Nonfiction Writing Grant. Her articles have appeared in venues such as The Boston Globe and The Wall Street Journal, and she has received support for her research from the National Endowment for the Humanities, among other organisations. She holds a BA in the Humanities from Yale College and a PhD in English from Columbia University.
'Ellen and William Craft loved each other, but also loved freedom, and knew one was impossible without the other ... we readers gasp in amazement and wonder at the tragedy and triumph' -- Marlon James, winner of The Booker Prize 'Phenomenal' -- Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, author of The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois 'Woo's history draws from a variety of sources, including the Crafts' own account, to reconstruct a 'journey of mutual self-emancipation', while artfully sketching the background of a nation careering toward civil war' * The New Yorker * 'Details of the history of 19th-century American slavery and the courage of those who suffered it and the inhuman vileness of those who were responsible for it' -- Patrick Stewart * interviewed in The New York Times * 'A suspenseful, sensitively rendered account . . . Woo tells the story [with] a cinematic eye' -- W. Caleb McDaniel * The New York Times Book Review * 'Superbly researched and masterfully written' * Library Journal * 'A gripping adventure. . . . suspenseful and wonderfully told' * Kirkus Reviews * 'A feat of ... storytelling, sympathy and insight' * The New York Times * 'A pathbreaking book ... Riveting' -- Stuart Miller * The Los Angeles Times * 'A narrative of such courage and resourcefulness it seems too dashing to be true. But it is... The story is so richly dramatic, and Ms. Woo so skilled at spinning it out, that at times it's a genuine nail-biter' -- Priscilla M. Jensen * The Wall Street Journal * 'Master Slave Husband Wife tells one of the most important stories of American slavery and freedom. With prose that is suspenseful, brilliantly detailed, historically precise, and simply gorgeous, Woo depicts the Crafts and their historic role in antebellum America stunningly. This is a story that will stay with you for a lifetime' -- Imani Perry * author of South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation *