The Last Runaway

   

    Tracy Chevalier's new novel The Last Runaway is a lovely warm bath of a book - pure pleasure in which to immerse yourself and little incentive to leave it. It's the story of a young Quaker woman, Honor Bright, who leaves home and family in Dorset to sail to America in the company of her sister Grace who is to marry an émigré, but when Grace contracts yellow fever and dies, Honor's future is uncertain. Unable to return to England but with no real ties to Ohio where Grace's fiancé lives, Honor must find some sort of place for herself in this foreign community with its strange attitudes and customs.

    Ohio is a place of comings and goings, a crossing point for settlers travelling from east to west, and for runaway slaves heading north to Canada and sanctuary. Its transient population numbers members of the Underground Railroad, the chain of people who will help the runaways and harbour them from slave hunters, and despite the jeopardy her actions put her in, Honor's conscience and beliefs mean she gives assistance to the fugitives where she can.

    I won't say more about the plot than that, but apart from the story itself, one of the book's charms is Tracy Chevalier's portrayal of Quaker culture, of the lives of Ohio's pioneering farming families, and of the making of quilts - for Honor is a fine needlewoman, and her craft forms a neat line of running stitch throughout the book. I learned a lot through reading the novel, as its social history is fascinating, and I loved its steady pace and easy style, its essential 'quietness' - as befits its Quaker heroine. The small cast of characters makes a tight ensemble of strong contrasts, its dramatic potential realised to the full, and it's a well-rounded book, Honor's story smooth and even and pleasingly resolved. I recommend it thoroughly.

                                                 ~~~~~

    Tracy Chevalier talks about the novel in the current edition of We Love This Book from page 30.

Comments

[Chris]

I'm very much drawn to the beautiful cover of this book, but it also sounds like my kind of read, I love anything with rich social history throughout. My copy has just been ordered.

[Thomas at My Porch]

I haven't read any of her books since her first. I may have to give this one a go.

[Cornflower]

I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did, Chris.

[LauraC]

I am definitely going to read this book! I looked at the article in We Love This Book, did you also read "We'll Meet Again," by Chris Cleave on page 38? Fantastic!

[Mary]

Funnily enough, I recently picked up the audio recording of the book from my local library (helps ease a long commute). But then Washington had a snow day today, so no commute. Looking forward to it after your description.

[jenclair]

I enjoyed this one, too!

[Cornflower]

I thought the whole mood and feel of the book was just right for its subject matter, and for me it was a super read.

[Cornflower]

Haven't read it yet, Laura, but I shall now - thankyou!

[Cornflower]

It would make a very pleasant, quite soothing 'listen', I think Mary.

[Cornflower]

You're a quilter, aren't you, Jenclair, so added interest there; I loved that aspect of the book.

[Mary]

I've been reading it in bed this week so the quietness has been just right! I loved her Vermeer book, but wasn't keen on the William Blake one. This is very different again.

[Cornflower]

Perfect bedtime reading!

[Alex]

I've found Chevalier very patchy and so wouldn't have necessarily picked this book up. However, you make it sound as though it might be one of her better offerings so if the library have a copy I'll give it a go.

[Cornflower]

I've seen more than one comment to the effect that this is Tracy Chevalier's best book since Girl with a Pearl Earring, and I certainly enjoyed it greatly, so I hope you will too if you give it a go, Alex.

[Erika]

Like Alex I am yes and no about TC's books. This is definitely one of her better ones. I remain baffled by the grotesque sexual scene in the cornfield however. I have long come to the conclusion that agents and/ or publishers demand such episodes and authors have to grimly fling them in. This was do inappropriate and never knitted into the book in general.

[Cornflower]

Yes, that took me by surprise, too, Erika.