Title: The Last Runaway
Author: Tracey Chevalier
The story of an English Quaker who emigrates to Ohio in 1850, and her struggles to find her place. She becomes involved in the Underground Railroad, finding herself pursued by a slave hunter.
I loved this book on so many levels. The book deals with some very difficult social and political issues, covering slavery, people's decisions to take part, or not, in the Underground Railroad, and discussions such as abolition and Colonization. But it manages to do from a very personal perspective, as the reader becomes involved in the lives of the characters. Honor, the main character, goes through many discoveries as an immigrant herself, while navigating the political landscape of the time. As an immigrant myself, I found familiarity in her experiences acclimating to the United States, even in a wildly different time period.
I absolutely recommend this book. What books are you starting the year with?
Thanks for this review, I'm going to check it out. I usually really enjoy her books.
ReplyDeleteI would love to know what you think if you do read it!
DeleteI have one I'm about to start along similar lines called "The Kitchen House" by Kathleen Grissom - have you read it? If not its about a young Irish girl a few decades before the civil war that ends up on a plantation working in the kitchen...Not quite fitting in with the upper class whites (being a worker girl) and not quite fitting in with the other workers (being a white girl). I'm excited to read it. If you have - let me know what you thought?
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard of this book but I'm definitely intrigued! Since you're going to beat me to it, I would love to know what you end up thinking of it.
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