Twelve Years a Slave

By: Solomon Northup

Narrated by: Louis Gossett Jr.

Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

Official Movie Tie-in Audiobook for the Academy Award's Best Picture and Golden Globe's Best Drama winner.

New York Times and USA Today Bestseller.

In this riveting landmark autobiography which reads like a novel, Academy Award and Emmy winner Louis Gossett, Jr., masterfully transports us to 1840s New York, Washington, D.C., and Louisiana to experience the kidnapping and twelve years of bondage of Solomon Northup, a free man of color. Twelve Years a Slave, published in 1853, was an immediate bombshell in the national debate over slavery leading up to the Civil War. It validated Harriett Beecher Stowe’s fictional account of Southern slavery in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which had become the best-selling American book in history a few years earlier and significantly changed public opinion in favor of abolition. Experience our official movie tie-in audiobook for the award-winning motion picture, directed by Steve McQueen and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Brad Pitt, Paul Giamatti, Michael Fassbender, and Lupita Nyong'o. This audio edition with an accompanying custom map is based on the research of Dr. Sue Eakin, the nationally recognized authority on Solomon Northup who spent a lifetime authenticating his story.

Hard working Solomon Northup, an educated free man of color in 1841, enjoys family life with his wife and three children in Saratoga, New York. He delights his community with his fiddle playing and antic spirit, and has positive expectations of all he meets. When he is deceived by “circus promoters” to accompany them to a musical gig in the nation’s capital, his joyful life takes an unimaginable turn. He awakens in shackles to find he has been drugged, kidnapped and bound for the slave block in D.C.

After Solomon is shipped 1,000 miles to New Orleans, he is assigned his slave name and quickly learns that the mere utterance of his true origin or rights as a freeman are certain to bring severe punishment or death. While he endures the brutal life of a slave in Louisiana’s isolated Bayou Boeuf plantation country, he must learn how to play the system and plot his escape home.

For 12 years, his fine mind captures the reality of slavery in stunning detail, as we learn about the characters that populate plantation society and the intrigues of the bayou – from the collapse of a slave rebellion resulting in mass hangings due to traitorous slave Lew Cheney, to the tragic abuse of his friend Patsey because of Mrs. Epps’ jealousy of her husband’s sexual exploitation of his pretty young slave.

When Solomon finally finds a sympathizing friend who risks his life to secret a letter to the North, a courageous rescue attempt ensues that could either compound Solomon’s suffering, or get him back to the arms of his family.

AUTHENTICATION: Northup’s harrowing first-hand account was authenticated from decades of research by Dr. Sue Eakin, who rediscovered the original narrative as a 12-year old in 1931 and made it her life’s work.

For additional audio clips, background info and images, see our website at www.12YearsASlaveBook.com.

Download your unique free map based on Solomon's narrative.

©2013 Eakin Films & Publishing (P)2013 Eakin Films & Publishing

Critic reviews

“...Gossett infuses the words with a quiet, seething power." ( AudioFile, 2013)

“I can never read his account of his days in slavery, of his independence of spirit, of his determination to be free…without believing that it would make a difference in today's world if our contemporaries knew of such a man as Solomon Northup." (Dr. John Hope Franklin, past president of the American Historical Association, best-selling author, recipient of Presidential Medal of Freedom, nation's highest civilian honor)

"[T]he extraordinary narrative of Solomon Northup is the most remarkable book that was ever issued from the American press." ( Detroit Tribune, original 1853 review) "Its truth is far greater than fiction." (Frederick Douglass, famous writer, former slave and abolitionist) "It will be read extensively, both at the North and the South." ( New York Tribune, 1853, published by Horace Greeley)

A total surprise, much better than the movie

This book was very interesting. The movie is a disappointment in comparison. I read the book first and was very impressed with both the writing and story line. When I saw the movie I was so let down as there is no comparison. If you have seen the movie and not yet read the book my recommendation is to listen or read this book.

A mix of emotions

This audio book has good and bad.

Compelling story, graciously told, informative without excessive description. I was so happy he returned home to his family. Louis Gossett Jr was quite a good reader but at times it felt like the volume dropped and it was hard to understand, something close to mumbling is what I got.

The story is a bit slow at times but it wasn't an angry reading. I think the best narrator was chosen. I've listed to Roots and I believe a stronger or deep, angry voice would have been wrong here. Solomon is true to his name and presents a good account of his troubles with the position that each person he meets earns their description. Kind, sad, lazy, productive, drunk, spiritual, mean and cruel are all names earned by the true character of the people he meets.

The most amazing book I have ever read.

I loved it! I was deeply saddened, deeply moved, and deeply impacted to examine the course of my life in light of the atrocities suffered by my ancestors.

A Better Man than I

Any additional comments?

I purchased this audiobook because of the movie adaptation. It was very difficult to listen to at times, and I was glad I didn't have to watch some of the scenes (I will not be watching the movie). Normally my imagination is more creative than any film director could replicate (why I love books), but thankfully I was fairly successful at suppressing it in this case.

The facts of slavery were not a surprise. Hearing them narrated was certainly more harrowing than reading about them, and for that reason I consider the audiobook a far better way to encounter this piece of our American history than the printed book. Lou Gossett Jr. did a fine job.

What really struck me throughout the book was the charity of the author. His ability to understand and forgive those who have wronged him filled me with admiration, but also shame, because it was very obvious that my own ability to forgive is sorely lacking in comparison.

Mandatory Reading

I often think some books that cover historical times should be mandatory reading for our children. This is absolutely one of those books.

An autobiographical account of slavery.

An amazing , true story. A very happy and relieved Solomon Northup in the end but one still feels for those slaves that never got the chance of freedom. Even more astonding how the book was forgotten for many years..

Do we ever really know who we rub shoulders with?

When will we allow one another to have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? This poor man's capture and torment is well written and pursuasive. No wonder it wasn't popular in its time.

The story in general is amazing.

The story is amazing, the audio is great, the entire book is so good. Amazing read.

This was a great and inspiring story

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, I would recommend this audiobook to my friends.

This story takes you into the mind and thoughts of a slave in mid-1800s Louisiana. This book has a slightly different angle, telling the story from the perspective on a free man of color who was lured from his hometown in New York and kidnapped into slavery in Washington DC (on the mall across from the Capitol), then shipped to Louisiana. Solomon is highly intelligent and smarter than most slaves (and slave masters), and has unique talents. He describes aspects of slavery that are very seldom told. As a descendant of a slave, this is the first book I have read that answered questions that are never asked. It shed insight on why the slaves continued in slavery and did not, or could not, revolt en masse, and what they did when they just couldn't take it anymore. As an African-American, I especially appreciated the effort made by the author to enlighten future generations about the truth of 19th century Southern slavery and provide a factual view of the institution based on his actual experience, and a balanced account of individual men who populated plantation society.

What other book might you compare Twelve Years a Slave to and why?

It is hard to compare this book to any I have read, since most books about slavery tell pretty much the same story. This author really tried to capture the life and experience of this slave and shared his inner thoughts. This is was made this book exceptional.

What does Louis Gossett, Jr. bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Based on Lou Gossett's very personal performance of the slave Solomon Northup's first-person story, I'm thinking that the movie can't match what I just experienced. He makes you feel as if you are actually sitting across from him, perhaps over coffee, and he is sharing his story, sometimes engaging you in the haunting details of his captivity and the characters he encountered along his journey (some evil, some heroic), and sometimes emotionally gripping you with heart-rending moments that he conveys with perfection. You soon forget it's a performance and you live the moment with Solomon. The realism Gossett delivers helps you to visualize the people and scenes in your mind in a way that seems more powerful than a movie's visuals. I am an avid audiobook listener and this experience was unique. It's much more than a narration, it's bringing a slave from 150 years ago back to life and placing him in front of you.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, it was hard to turn off.

Any additional comments?

I would recommend this audiobook to all African Americans. It gives a new insight into our ancestors life. It answers some of those questions that we don't ask.

Powerful narrative of an enslaved free man

What does Louis Gossett, Jr. bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

"Twelve Years A Slave" is a powerful narrative in and of itself, telling the story of Solomon Northup, a black man born free yet kidnapped and sold into slavery for twelve years before being rescued. The narrative provides a unique perspective on slavery, being told from the slave himself instead of an outsider looking in. Solomon's view is not sugar-coated, but neither is it harsh when it does not need to be. Louis Gossett, Jr.'s voice brings a humanness to Solomon, and in doing so brings him to life. While listening to Gossett's extraordinary delivery, one hears the emotions Solomon felt throughout the narrative - the disillusionment upon being kidnapped, the hope of one day escaping, the hopelessness of that same possibility, the realization that not all slave owners were beasts, the horror at the actions of other slave owners, just to name a few. I found that multiple times during the course of listening to Gossett reading the narrative of Solomon Northup, I would almost forget it was not Northup himself recounting his experiences. Gossett is so effective in this regard that I felt myself experiencing the emotions along with Solomon. This rare perspective offers a glimpse into slavery that many people cannot fathom. At the end, I felt I knew Solomon Northup so well that I celebrated along with him at his long overdue freedom.