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)

Amazing Book

What an amazing book. I think this should be required reading in all schools in the US

Enlightening Story

As an American history buff, I’ve read a great deal about the civil war and related the periods before and after the war. Nothing has opened my eyes to life of a slave like this book. To say it was a terrible period in the American story is an extreme understatement.

Lou Gossett brings a slave back to life

Would you consider the audio edition of Twelve Years a Slave to be better than the print version?

I had read this powerful book years ago and was surprised how its impact was even more stunning. Gossett's telling offered no escape from my own deep feelings.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Solomon speaks the truth of slavery in unflinching detail, yet is deeply philosophical and introspective, so listeners take a growth-ful journey with him.

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

Gossett's seems to live out Solomon's repressed anger, forthright rage, despair, and also delivers witty retorts, contentment and joy.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Some scenes were hard to take (beatings, children torn from mothers) and I reacted with deep sorrow. I was grateful for Solomon's wonderful wit and his willingness to find value in all his work.

Any additional comments?

Any listener can learn a lot from Solomon Northup, a keen observer of both nature and human nature who has the intelligence, and the will, to make his experience meaningful to himself and others.

A very compelling story!

Would you listen to Twelve Years a Slave again? Why?

As an educator, I will share this historical account with future students to make sure they know this story.

Excellent book, well read

This is an excellent, first-hand account of slavery in the American south written by a man who was kidnapped from his home in New York State and sold into slavery in Louisiana. Solomon Northup's story is a heartrending story of a man's patient fight for survival and freedom. Even his fair portrayal of 2 kind masters cannot balance the years he suffers in unrelenting, back-breaking labor, the unfathomable cruelty and unbelievable brutality of several of his masters, and his constant deep longing for freedom and his family. Louis Gossett, Jr.'s narration is as expert as you would expect. It is not a "performance" read, which I think works well with a first-person point of view.

A Listen of All Times

What made the experience of listening to Twelve Years a Slave the most enjoyable?

First is that such an incredible story is true and autobiographical. Yes, it is tragic, but the author intermingled the sweet with the bitter, so that the sweet became "comic relief" to the bitter and gave hope, although for some of Solomon Northrup's fellow kidnapping victims, hope came in relief after a too short life. His talent with the violin was part of that relief on the light side. The versatility and cleverness of Solomon, but also his refusal to suffer extraordinary abuse, along with his resourcefulness, added continuous interest to his story. The story is so well told and read...I often "rewound" and would re-listen to parts. I can hardly wait to see the 4-star movie version.

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

Possibly The Island Beneath the Sea, but that one is a number of individual stories along with one of the masses and is fiction.

Which character – as performed by Louis Gossett, Jr. – was your favorite?

Of course Solomon.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

A slave beyond slavery...

Any additional comments?

Listen to it, if you haven't! I read about what is supposably happened to him after he was freed. His talents continued with his doing public speaking and he bought a property, but he became reckless and ambitious, and lost his property and wealth. It is conjectured that he may have gone in quest of the gold in the gold rush to the west. He was obviously never the same man as before being kidnapped.

Great read - reluctant to see the movie.

Would you listen to Twelve Years a Slave again? Why?

Yes - definitely. Great combination of a historical account and a compelling story.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Twelve Years a Slave?

Several parts stick out for me. One of my favorite parts is the account of his kidnapping and imprisonment. The story drew me in and took me on the journey from surprise, through acceptance and all the other emotions that he experienced.

What about Louis Gossett, Jr.’s performance did you like?

I lost myself in his performance. I had the opportunity to listen on a long road trip that seemed to end too soon.

Superb Reading.

This memoir should be a mandatory read and study in the public school system especially in the south. I am from this region of Louisiana and I can attest that some of bigotry and cruelty still exist to this day. Makes me wonder if the laws were reversed and slavery made legal again, how many would eagerly embrace it. I think we all would be surprised.

One of the most compelling stories ever

What did you love best about Twelve Years a Slave?

This is a story no one should miss. Whether or not you understand the true depths of slavery, this is more about learning true American history, the meaning of human strength and endurance and the knowledge to make a difference. It's the difference between surviving and living.

PICK THIS ONE!!!!!

This was a life changing listen. I haven't seen the movie but it can't possibly have the power of this book.