I have great admiration for Tracy Chevalier. In my opinion she is an accomplished writer. As with most people I think, the first novel of hers that I read was ‘The Girl with a Pearl Earring’. This was the backstory created from the luminous picture by Vermeer. It was a convincing historical read and I loved it. A few years ago I heard the author speak at Temple Place in London. It was about her book ‘A Single Thread’ and there was an exhibition of tapestry and embroidery which supported the story. Winchester Cathedral was involved and the real life story of the sewing that was done by Louisa Pesel. I intended to visit but then covid happened and that trip is still to come.
Anyway, recently I read somewhere about ‘The Last Runaway’ and decided I must read it. Luckily I first looked along my shelves to the Chevalier books and there it was, obviously unread (no wavy pages from being read in the bath). No idea when or where I bought it but no matter.
It is a truly great read; the kind where the hands on the clock move from one day to another and you don’t notice; the kind where you put off getting up for an indecent and reprehensible length of time.
Honor comes from Bridport in Dorset, her father is a rope merchant and they are a Quaker family. (I know about the rope thing. I have a cousin who lives there and has a long thin garden. The rope twine would have been laid out down the length of the garden.) She and her sister Grace emigrate to America, specifically Ohio, near Oberlin and Lake Erie. Honor’s story becomes entwined (like rope!) with runaway slaves, escaping from Kentucky and the Carolinas into Pennsylvania and Ohio. The time is 1850. Should Quakers help these desperate people or should they obey the law? Honor and the Quaker family she marries into are torn over the morals of the situation.
I cared about Honor and a couple of the other characters. That for me is what makes me keep turning the pages … even after midnight. I also learnt a lot. Having followed up this story both historically and geographically, I now understand another piece of the complicated jigsaw that is America.
It has been a fascinating few days with this book close to me. I cannot recommend it highly enough. A joy.