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
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her...
Another middle-aged mom in a muddle.
After years of false starts and big hopes, Elizabeth’s ruggedly handsome husband Jack, a former football star, just landed a spot as a sportscaster on national news. He still loves her, even though much younger women are giving him come-hither looks. Heck, he doesn’t want to betray the love of his life after she helped him kick drugs and stuck by him even when he was a struggling has-been. And won’t it seem hypocritical if he fools around with his sexy assistant while he does in-depth reporting on a rape case involving a famous basketball center? Well, he fools around anyway. Elizabeth, nicknamed Birdie, knows nothing of this, but she withdraws from Jack when her hard-drinking, salt-of-the-earth father has a stroke and dies. Now no one will call her “sugar beet” ever again. Time to return home to Tennessee and contend with Anita, the sort-of-evil stepmother so trashy she wears pink puffy slippers all day long. Naturally, it turns out that Anita actually has a heart of gold and knows a few things about Birdie’s dead mother that were hushed up for years. Mom was an artist, just like Birdie, and an old scandal comes to light as Anita unrolls a vibrant canvas that portrays her secret lover. Perhaps, Birdie muses, her mother died of heartbreak, never having followed her true love or developed her talent. Has she, too, compromised everything she holds dear? Hoping to find out, Birdie joins a support group that promises to reconnect confused women with their passion. She and Jack separate, prompting a how-dare-you fit from their grown daughters. Will Birdie fly her empty nest? Will she go back to college for a degree in art? Will her brooding watercolors ever sell?
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her previous tales (Summer Island, 2001, etc.).Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-345-45071-X
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2002
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