"“For my mother,” I said. “For all the so many mothers taken over this bridge from which there can be no return.” … “For all the mothers who have remained… Who carry on in the name of those who do not return.”

It's going to be very difficult to describe this novel. Coates writes about slavery without mentioning the word, and it is classical magical realism where the point of the magic is to comment on reality. It is a lushly written book, with vivid and imaginative description, but it is also driven by unfolding mysteries and tight plotting and anchored to strong characterisation. You want these people to be okay, to find their strength and get the right to love.
Coates also weaves in optimistic and kind analysis of both the ways that gender and race intersect and the tensions between white abolitionists and Black "for their war was against the Task, and mine would be a war for those who were Tasked." If you can't tell by now, I loved this book. Writing this review, I just want to read it again.