A suspenseful and moving look at the moral plight of American slaves.
Two young slaves in Mississippi escape their ruthless owner with proof he committed a crime in this debut historical novel.
Ben Douglas, the owner of the Mary Dale plantation, arranges for the sale of his property and the manumission of his slaves upon his demise. But after Ben dies, Col. James Pritchard fraudulently claims to be a cousin of Ben’s late wife and takes possession of the property, slaves and all, in 1851. Will Douglas, a teenage slave who had been with Ben since he was 13 years old, finds the will—he can read and write—and realizes his knowledge of Pritchard’s misdeed puts his life in danger. Will escapes with his best friend, Tom, and the two make their way by boat to St. Louis with a considerable pile of cash purloined from the plantation and legal documents that prove Ben’s intentions. Pritchard dispatches his henchman to track them down, and everywhere Will and Tom go is vigilantly policed by slave hunters, perilous circumstances powerfully depicted by Steinmann. Will makes the acquaintance of Abraham Bireman, an attorney, who handles his legal case while making arrangements for the slaves to flee their pursuers. Meanwhile, Will’s lifelong companion, Teeny, is given by Pritchard to a lawyer, Richard Walther, who intends to make her his “fancy girl” and produce a child with her. Teeny is horrified by his coarse advances but wants to keep the child that is the result of them. Bireman arranges for her to escape north, donning a disguise that makes her look 20 years older. In this gripping tale, the author poignantly captures the volatility of a country cleaved over the issue of slavery. As a reverend warns Will and Tom: “Be careful…this country is coming apart. The closer it gets to splitting in half, the crazier people are going to act.” Will and Teeny are memorable protagonists—both resourceful and brave and drawn with artful empathy. In addition, Steinmann provides a picture of the abolitionist movement that is as historically authentic as it is thrillingly dramatic.
A suspenseful and moving look at the moral plight of American slaves.Pub Date: Dec. 27, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-941478-56-1
Page Count: 402
Publisher: Windy City Publisher
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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