An extraordinary and moving story of two brothers from the American South who were stolen away to become circus freaks.

`[An] extraordinary tale of courage and grace’ Spectator 1899, Truevine, Virginia. In the heart of the Jim Crow South, everyone that George and Willie Muse knew was either a former slave, or a child or grandchild of slaves. They were just six and nine years old, but the brothers worked the fields of a sweltering tobacco farm from dawn to dark. Until a white man offered them candy, and stole them away to the circus. There they were forced to enact outrageous caricatures: supposed cannibals, sheep-headed freaks, even `Ambassadors from Mars’. For the next twenty-eight years, their distraught mother struggled to get them back. But were they really kidnapped? And how did their mother, a barely literate black woman in the segregated South, manage to bring them home? And why, after coming home, did they want to go back to the circus? Truevine is an unforgettable tale of cruelty and exploitation, but also of loyalty, determination and love. `Quite some story, and Macy has told it skilfully, vividly, compassionately’ Guardian `Macy is a gifted storyteller and a dogged researcher and readers will be riveted by Harriet Muse's struggle to find her sons’ New York Times

In Truevine, Virginia, in 1899 everyone the Muse brothers knew was either a former slave, or a child or grandchild of slaves.

George and Willie Muse were just six and nine years old, but they worked the fields from dawn to dark. Until a white man offered them candy and stole them away to become circus freaks. For the next twenty-eight years, their distraught mother struggled to get them back. But were they really kidnapped? And how did their mother, a barely literate black woman in the segregated South, manage to bring them home? And why, after coming home, would they want to go back to the circus?

In Truevine, bestselling author Beth Macy reveals for the first time what really happened to the Muse brothers. It is an unforgettable story of cruelty and exploitation, but also of loyalty, determination and love.