Local author Ashton Lattimore will discuss her acclaimed historical fiction novel, All We Were Promised. It follows the lives of three young Black women in pre–Civil War Philadelphia whose paths unexpectedly—and dangerously—collide when a housemaid with a perilous family secret conspires with a wealthy young abolitionist to help an enslaved girl escape.
As Elizabeth Wellington wrote in The Philadelphia Inquirer: “The story was inspired by the complex and explosive history of a divided city, yet is relevant today. Philadelphia was this in-between place that straddled the politics between North and South. Lattimore’s well researched prose tells you what was really going on in Philadelphia and what life must have been like for Black women who lived in and around Old City and Society Hill from about 1837 through 1838.”
The Inquirer article adds that “All We Were Promised answers the call of readers who are tired of being spoon-fed slave narratives that paint Black people as illiterate victims without agency. Lattimore is among the growing number of novelists who cast the enslaved as heroes in their emancipation stories. These authors’ prose is emotional, factual, and points to the ways enslavers benefitted from centuries of free labor and highlights that while abolitionists weren’t proslavery, they weren’t necessarily pro-Black.”
Ashton Lattimore is an award-winning author, journalist, and former lawyer. 
Her debut novel, ALL WE WERE PROMISED, was a Book of the Month Club pick, a Washington Post and NPR Best Book of 2024, and one of PEOPLE Magazine's Best New Books for April 2024. The book also received the First Novelist Award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. Ashton is the former editor-in-chief of Prism, a nonprofit news outlet that reports on social justice by and for communities of color. Her nonfiction writing has appeared in Prism, The Washington Post, Slate, CNN, and Essence. She grew up in New Jersey and now lives in suburban Philadelphia with her husband and their two sons.
We encourage you to read the book in advance. For your convenience, here’s a link to purchase the book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/722988/all-we-were-promised-by-ashton-lattimore/. It provides several vendors and format options, depending on your preference.
Note that the cancellation deadline is Tuesday, June 3rd. Should you need to cancel before that date, a credit will be issued to your Women's Connection account to use for future purchases. No refunds after that date.
* Photo credit to Tyger Williams/Staff Photographer, The Philadelphia Inquirer