# The Underground Railroad

**Author:** Colson Whitehead
**Grade range:** Grades 11–12
**Age range:** 16–17
**First published:** 2000
**Page count:** 378
**Genre:** Historical Fiction
**ISBN-13:** `9780708898376`
**ISBN-10:** `0708898378`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/the-underground-railroad
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hell for all the slaves, but especially bad for Cora; an outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood—where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Matters do not go as planned—Cora kills a young white boy who tries to capture her. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted.

## Themes

- history
- underground railroad
- fugitive slaves
- historical fiction

## Where this book is assigned

### Cambridge AS & A-Level English Literature (9695)

- **required** · 11th grade — [source: Prescribed set text for Cambridge International AS & A Level Literature in English (9695), Paper 2 Section A (Prose), for examination in 2027. Transcribed from the official Cambridge International syllabus (721410-2027-2028-syllabus.pdf). Set texts rotate ](https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/programmes-and-qualifications/cambridge-international-as-and-a-level-literature-in-english-9695/)
- **required** · 12th grade — [source: Prescribed set text for Cambridge International AS & A Level Literature in English (9695), Paper 2 Section A (Prose), for examination in 2027. Transcribed from the official Cambridge International syllabus (721410-2027-2028-syllabus.pdf). Set texts rotate ](https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/programmes-and-qualifications/cambridge-international-as-and-a-level-literature-in-english-9695/)

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