Asa James - by Jodi Lew-Smith (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Winner of the 2025 American Legacy Book Awards: Historical Fiction

Winner of the 2025 Feathered Quill Book Awards: Historical Fiction

"A heartfelt debut, beautifully told."-Jennifer Klepper, USA Today bestselling author of The Last Road Trip

1875 Vermont. Asa James hasn't exactly sucked on the silver spoon. No one chooses to grow up on a rural poor farm, but a mixed-race orphan with Asa's scarred face has little choice.

Determined to be a naturalist and scientific thinker in the vein of Charles Darwin, instead he finds himself thrust alone into the wider world, taking a tutor's position at a mountaintop mansion. There, the widow Caro Rockwell is glossy and sardonic, someone so far outside Asa's experience that she could well be another species. But soon he glimpses the broken woman inside the shell. Amid a series of eerie events, they form a friendship that grows into a sweet and tender sort of love.

His heart has what it wants. But then, from within the many dark recesses of Mansfield Hall, a shameful secret is discovered that will force Asa into making a terrible choice.

Review Quotes

"Set in remote Vermont, where the gardens and gravesites whisper secrets, Lew-Smith digs gloriously into the natural world as a metaphor for the unknown and a chilling secret that if revealed would bring Asa's world crashing down." -Sharon J. Wishnow, author of The Pelican Tide

"Asa James offers the very best of historical fiction. In an engrossing story filled with great period detail, readers will root for young Asa as he winds his way through times of hardship, betrayal, love and forgiveness. This is a novel that grabs the reader and doesn't let go. Asa James is a winner." -Mark Mustian, internationally bestselling author of The Gendarme and Boy With Wings

"In Asa James, Jodi Lew-Smith delivers the kind of Gothic that gets under your skin. A 15th-century English manor transplanted to Vermont, priest holes whispering through the walls, and decency tested against buried sins. The writing style is calm, exacting and the shocks arrive like stone scraping in the dark. Ultimately, the revelations feel both inevitable and breathtaking." -Todd Brown, award-winning author of When Shadows Burn

"Jodi Lew-Smith has a unique gift for infusing wonder and tenderness into even the darkest moments of her story, underscoring this captivating adventure with the deeply romantic notion that fate always offers us a chance to transform our world into a less brutal place, but it's up to us to find the courage to take it." -Heather Havrilesky, "Ask Polly" columnist and author of Foreverland

"Asa James is a beautifully written novel, weaving a compelling tale of a mixed-race orphan possessed with an unwavering determination to become a naturalist and scientific thinker. Lew-Smith masterfully crafts believable characters who feel authentic and deeply human, drawing readers into their lives through her rich prose. A powerful read." -Ann E. Lowry, author of The Blue Trunk

"Jodi Lew-Smith has created a beautifully intricate period piece that examines the importance of place in society, whether determined by an individual's perception of themselves or how they are viewed by those around them. Scars, whether physical, emotional, hidden, or laid bare for the world to see, play an important role as the compelling characters come to grips with their societal status. With twists and surprises, Asa James is a captivating read as the characters reveal themselves to us, and to themselves." -Jack Bartley, author of Smoke on the Water

"In this warm and generous novel, Jodi Lew-Smith introduces Asa James, a young man of little means but great ambition whose affinity for the natural world and its wonders leads him on a life-altering journey. Even as he earns recognition for his diligence and eye for detail, Asa's most important discovery is the one dictated by his heart, as he learns how to forgive and, ultimately, how to love." -Stephen Seche, author of The Silversmith's Secret

"This is an important book that should not be missed. It's a great story of progress on many levels (punctuated by mysteries and secrets), but it also deals with making bad choices and whether the results can be overcome or even mitigated. I could not put the book down-I was with Asa all the way as he surmounted, one by one, the barriers before him." -Winona Howe, author of Sita and the Prince of Tigers and The Penniman Menagerie