The Mapmaker's Children: A Novel

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Two women from different generations face challenges that test their bravery and resilience in this “lovingly constructed [and] passionately told” (The Washington Post) novel from the author of The Baker’s Daughter.

“Poignant and deeply absorbing. McCoy weaves this moving tale of two women finding their way with style and thoughtfulness.”—Madeline Miller, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Circe and The Song of Achilles

When Sarah Brown, daughter of abolitionist John Brown, realizes that her artistic talents may be able to help save the lives of slaves fleeing north, she becomes one of the Underground Railroad’s leading mapmakers, taking her cues from the Slave Quilt codes and hiding her maps within her paintings. As the country steers toward civil war, Sarah faces difficult sacrifices that could put all she loves in peril.

A century and a half later, Eden Anderson, reeling from personal disappointment, moves with her husband to an old house in suburban Washington, D.C., a last-ditch effort to save their marriage and start a family. In the house’s cellar, she discovers a long-hidden porcelain doll that holds extraordinary secrets from the days of the Underground Railroad.

Sarah and Eden’s connection soon bridges the past with the present, forcing each of them to define courage, family, love, and legacy in a new way, illustrating the ways in which history and destiny are interconnected on one enormous, intricate map.