I'm so glad that I read this via audiobook, even though I bought the book in print several months ago in anticipation of watching the mini-series adaptation. I think the book narrator did a great job of bringing the characters to life with humor and emotion.

Little Onion is a young enslaved boy who is rescued from bondage by John Brown as he crusades across the south against slavery. Brown thinks Onion is a girl but also sees him as a good luck charm and special member of his crew. Onion recounts his tale as an old man, the last living survivor of Brown's stand at Harper's Ferry. Along the way he encounters Fredrick Douglas and Harriet Tubman and also plays a role in the disastrous events that helped kick off the US Civil War.