LANGHORN AND MARY

Sharp’s historical novel, based on true events, follows the trials and joys of a Black man and white woman struggling to survive in 1800s Pennsylvania.

Langhorn H. Wellings and Mary Stone meet while having lunch on her father’s farm, where he’s working as a hired hand. Their instant, mutual attraction will change the course of their lives. Mary, a pious, diligent young white woman of German descent, and Langhorn, a hardworking free Black man, are determined to build a life together. Despite the hostile reactions of Mary’s family and prevailing racist attitudes in the early 1800s, Mary and Langhorn marry and find acceptance in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where they raise children and find a sense of home. However, the shunning they face as an interracial couple, combined with the frequent loss and illness inherent to 19th-century life, gradually erode their happiness. After Langhorn faces tragedy in 1865, public sentiment turns vicious, and he’s unjustly accused of murder and must stand trial. Sharp is a descendant of the Stone family, and her research into her ancestry and the Bucks County community during the Civil War era is impressive in both depth and specificity. This retelling of a family history effectively attempts to position Langhorn and Mary’s marriage within a wider historical context. The author works hard to ground readers in the impact and devastation of the Civil War, alongside shifting national perspectives on race, slavery, and equality. This commitment sometimes leaves the novel feeling off balance and unfocused, however, since the numerous asides to provide biographies of historical figures and their offspring, or lists of birth and death dates, slacken the tension of Langhorn’s trial and draw attention away from the emotional depth of his marriage to Mary. Also, the decision to relay this text through two parallel timelines—with one following the development of Langhorn and Mary’s relationship and the other tracking fictional reporter Mahlon Riegel’s coverage of Langhorn’s trial—consistently shifts focus from the novel’s crucial, central romance.

An affecting love story that’s overpowered by historical anecdotes.