Colson Whitehead

An American author.

The Underground Railroad

Cora’s grandmother Ajarry died years earlier working on the Randall Plantation. Cora escapes. She escapes with Caesar. They stay at an actual railroad station, but the hospital they go to is actually trying to kill and sterilize them. The slave catcher Ridgeway shows up. She stays in Martin and Edith Well’s attic and watches as every night a slave is hanged. She is captured. She travels with Jasper, who is shot for singing, and Boseman, who has a neck of human ears. She escapes and lives with Royal on Valentine farm. Mingo and Lander speak on the farm, which is then burned down by a white mob. We learn that Cora’s mother Mabel died from a snake bite.

The Nickel Boys

Elwood Curtis attended the Nickel Academy. They find an old graveyard on the grounds. He is tricked by some hotel staff who work with his grandma Harriet to take a set of blank encyclopedias. He gets a job at Marconi’s Tobacco and Cigars. He is assigned to Cleveland Dormitory at Nickel Academy. They are beaten in a place called the White House. Turner, his friend, eats soap powder. There is a boxing match between Griff and he forgets to throw it and is beaten to death. Jaime poisons Housemaster Earl at Christmas.