The Turn

A novel based on true events — William Henry Johnson was never Lincoln's shadow. He was Lincoln's mirror. Amid much controversy over the legacies of historical figures, comes a novel that explores Lincoln's complex and evolving views on slavery, emancipation, abolition, and racial equality. But more than a Lincoln novel, it is the forgotten story of a young man who likely influenced Lincoln more than any celebrated abolitionist when it came to his turn from segregationist to champion of freedom and equality for all. As Lincoln's personal barber and valet, William Henry Johnson did not influence the President by whispering into his ear, he was the living embodiment of the price paid to keep the Union together, a daily reminder that half measures were an insult to humanity, because calculating the cost of peace is impossible, where humans enter the equation. After escaping bondage, twenty-five-year-old William Johnson goes to the nation's capital as Abraham Lincoln's valet, hoping the new president will help him reunite his family. But when Lincoln chooses an expedient peace over racial justice, Johnson's ambitions and the war against slavery may be doomed—unless he can turn Lincoln from long-held prejudices and convince him to embrace equality. Changing Lincoln's heart and mind comes at a severe price.