Petry's essentially straightforward presentation makes the work accessible to most readers. Although a limited number of passages contain elaborate descriptions, the novel as a whole features a clear, interesting, and unsentimental style. Petry sets forth a vivid description of the plantation and other settings without lingering long over particular scenes. She smoothly incorporates many details about slavery into the action of the novel. For instance, when attempting to keep escaped slaves motivated to continue their arduous journey, Tubman often describes the horrors of the Middle Passage, the journey on slave ships from Africa to the U.S. Graphic but controlled scenes dramatize the pain and terror of the Middle Passage, and they help put Tubman's activities into historical context.

Intermittent flashbacks further contribute to the novel's strong historical framework, and at the end of each chapter Petry gives a historical account of relevant national events taking...