THE STOCKWELL LETTERS

One man’s escape from slavery irrevocably transforms the lives of two women in Friedland’s latest historical novel.

The author reimagines the lives of two important 19th-century Americans: Ann Phillips, a prominent Boston abolitionist, and Anthony Burns, who escaped slavery by sneaking aboard a ship to Boston. Their stories are intertwined with the narrative of fictional Southern belle Colette Randolph, who befriends Anthony in Richmond, Virginia, before his flight to the North. Both Ann and Colette are passionately against slavery, but the women’s anti-slavery efforts can only go so far. Ann is limited by her poor health, and Colette is hampered by her restrictive role as the wife of the man who founded one of Richmond’s most successful tobacco factories. Ann contributes to the abolitionist cause by writing speeches for her husband, Wendell, a prominent lecturer who champions the “enslaved, the downtrodden, the persecuted, at every opportunity.” After a chance meeting with Anthony, Colette surreptitiously gives him reading lessons before he flees to Boston. Anthony’s capture and prosecution under the Fugitive Slave Act ultimately transforms both women’s lives in monumental yet hidden ways. Friedland’s story of how these two very different women clandestinely help Anthony build a future also speaks to how important women were to the abolitionist movement. “History is a finicky friend,” Friedland writes, but there is nothing finicky about the impeccable research that forms the backbone of this novel. Evocative period detail abounds in Friedland’s work; characters are pulled directly from history. In addition to Ann and Anthony, Henry David Thoreau makes an appearance, and many other prominent figures come up in conversation. Colette, however, never springs to life as vividly as Ann or Anthony. Moreover, there is not enough interaction between Colette and Anthony in Richmond to believe that she eventually becomes “preoccupied about Anthony all the time.” By contrast, Ann and Wendell’s marriage contains all the minor annoyances of any contemporary long-term relationship. The nuanced depiction of Ann and Wendell’s marriage and Friedland’s atmospheric storytelling are enough to make the reader overlook these minor flaws.

An ingeniously constructed, if slightly uneven, historical page-turner.