The Mapmaker's Children
A Novel
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4.4 • 8 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Two women from different generations face challenges that test their bravery and resilience in this “lovingly constructed [and] passionately told” (The Washington Post) novel from the author of The Baker’s Daughter.
“Poignant and deeply absorbing. McCoy weaves this moving tale of two women finding their way with style and thoughtfulness.”—Madeline Miller, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Circe and The Song of Achilles
When Sarah Brown, daughter of abolitionist John Brown, realizes that her artistic talents may be able to help save the lives of slaves fleeing north, she becomes one of the Underground Railroad’s leading mapmakers, taking her cues from the Slave Quilt codes and hiding her maps within her paintings. As the country steers toward civil war, Sarah faces difficult sacrifices that could put all she loves in peril.
A century and a half later, Eden Anderson, reeling from personal disappointment, moves with her husband to an old house in suburban Washington, D.C., a last-ditch effort to save their marriage and start a family. In the house’s cellar, she discovers a long-hidden porcelain doll that holds extraordinary secrets from the days of the Underground Railroad.
Sarah and Eden’s connection soon bridges the past with the present, forcing each of them to define courage, family, love, and legacy in a new way, illustrating the ways in which history and destiny are interconnected on one enormous, intricate map.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
McCoy's (The Baker's Daughter) latest is a journey into the past that reveals the hidden depths of the lives of two very different women separated by more than 150 years. Sarah Brown, one of the children of abolitionist John Brown, survives deadly dysentery only to learn that she will be barren from complications of the illness. Despite the devastating diagnosis, Sarah is determined to give meaning to her life. She assists in drawing maps for the runaway slaves her father is harboring in their Plattsburgh, N.Y., home. In present-day West Virginia, Eden and her husband, Jack, have left their life in Washington, D.C., behind to get a new start after Eden has a series of miscarriages. But Eden's depression over her loss and seeming inability to conceive has left her doubting the stability of her marriage. When Jack leaves on a business trip, Eden is forced to deal with the puppy he bought her as she adjusts to life in the small town and seeks to uncover the history behind her house. McCoy carefully juxtaposes the past and the present, highlighting the characters' true introspection, and slowly revealing the unusual similarities in the two woman's lives, which leads to a riveting conclusion.
