When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

While many narrative set pieces of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place (floods and storms, stumbling across both unexpected death and unexpected treasure in the myriad stopping points along the river’s banks, encountering the scam artists posing as the Duke and Dauphin…), Jim’s agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light.

About the moderator:
Dana Clinton arrived in Maine after five years in France, and she spent the next thirty years teaching French at Berwick Academy. Retiring from teaching in 1987, she now works part-time at When Pigs Fly in Kittery and resides in South Berwick with her dog, Balzac. She has been part of Book Club almost since its inception and looks forward to every gathering.