All We Were Promised: A Novel
Ballantine Books, 2024

About the book
In 1837 Philadelphia, Charlotte is an escapee from the Southern plantation White Oaks, hiding from slave catchers by pretending to be a servant to her father, who passes for White. Longing to break away, she befriends Nell, a budding abolitionist from a wealthy Black family. When Evie, her friend from White Oaks, is brought to the city by the plantation mistress, Charlotte and Nell conspire to rescue her — but in a city engulfed by race riots and attacks on abolitionists, they soon discover that fighting for Evie’s freedom may cost them their own.

This event is presented in partnership with Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice (SDARJ).

About the author
Ashton Lattimore is an award-winning journalist and author. She is the former editor in chief at Prism, a nonprofit news outlet whose work centers on communities of color, and her writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Slate, CNN, and ESSENCE. This is her first novel.

Purchase the book
Please help support local independent bookstores by purchasing this book at Browseabout Books, official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Online sources and digital versions are tempting; however, supporting local brick and mortar shops helps to preserve our vibrant main streets. Drop by Browseabout, order books online, or call the store at 302-226-2665. You also may purchase a copy at biblion in Lewes.

About the Festival
The History Book Festival is the first and only book festival in the United States devoted exclusively to history. With the help of our presenting funding partners — Delaware Humanities, National Endowment for the Humanities, and The Lee Ann Wilkinson Group, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices | PenFed Realty — as well as our program and community partners, volunteers, and donors, the 2024 History Book Festival will be full of great discussions with authors of newly published narrative nonfiction and historical fiction. Our Keynote event is presented by Sally Mott Freeman and John K. Freeman, and our Closing event is presented by Griswold Home Care for Sussex and Kent Counties. Saturday’s Spirited Discussion, our gathering for attendees and presenters to celebrate and discuss their day, is presented by Dogfish Head Beer & Benevolence.

Special thanks to our program partners for their continuing support: the Lewes Public Library for event promotion and venue; Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach, official bookseller of the History Book Festival; Lewes Chamber of Commerce for event promotion, and the Cape Gazette and Delmarva Public Media, our media partners.

Additional thanks to our community partners: CAMP Rehoboth, Historic Lewes Farmers Market, Lewes Historical Society, Rehoboth Art League, Rehoboth Beach Film Society, Seaside Jewish Community, and Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice (SDARJ).