Never Caught

Really interesting look at the Washington's years surrounding when they were First Family, as well as Ona Judge and her family. I can't imagine what it was like for her to do what she did. Amazing.

It took me 3 weeks to read, but this was awesome. Dunbar's research on this seems exhaustive. Touching on the Fever of 1793, the lives of other famous slaves (William Lee and Prince Whipple), and the Free Black community in Philadelphia, Never Caught is Ona's story and so much more.
I'm blown away by certain points, such as Washington being unable to accept the idea that Ona desired to be free. It's not a case of her being a female who could not think for herself but because she was treated like “family” by the Washingtons! Why on earth would she want to be free of them? LOL.
He invented a fake French boyfriend who must have forced her to run.
This is a great read about an unknown (to me, at least) bit of history that was just fascinating. Like most historical papers, it was a bit repetitive and we are in Dunbar's hands for many of the opinions or inner thoughts of all of the major players, but I trusted her educated guesses as to the “why's”.
Ona's story would make a hell of a historical novel!!

An interesting story, told in a very confusing timeline of events. There was less about the pursuit than I anticipated as well.

And far more attention was spent on the Washingtons than on Ona. A book about Ona should focus more on Ona.