John Brown's Women
A Novel
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
As the United States wrestles with its besetting sin-slavery-abolitionist John Brown is growing tired of talk. He takes actions that will propel the nation toward civil war and thrust three courageous women into history.
Wealthy Brown, married to John Brown's oldest son, eagerly falls in with her husband's plan to settle in Kansas. Amid clashes between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers, Wealthy's adventure turns into madness, mayhem, and murder.
Fifteen-year-old Annie Brown is thrilled when her father summons her to the farm he has rented in preparation for his raid. There, she guards her father's secrets while risking her heart.
Mary Brown never expected to be the wife of John Brown, much less the wife of a martyr. When her husband's daring plan fails, Mary must travel into hostile territory, where she finds the eyes of the nation riveted upon John-and upon her.
Spanning three decades, John Brown's Women is a tale of love and sacrifice, and of the ongoing struggle for America to achieve its promise of liberty and justice for all.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Higginbotham (The First Lady and the Rebel) portrays John Brown's path toward violent abolitionism in this meticulous epic. In 1833 Pennsylvania, 16-year-old Mary Day learns about the horrors of slavery while working at Brown's house and declares, "That's cruel, and so very wrong. Someone should put a stop to it," to which Brown, a devout Puritan, replies, "It appears that you are an abolitionist." He then proposes, and their marriage marks the beginning of his family's involvement in the cause. In 1848, Brown meets with Frederick Douglass, and seven years later, Brown; his son, John Jr.; and well-educated daughter-in-law, Wealthy, travel to the Kansas Territory, determined to help make it a Free State. But after clashes with pro-slavery militants, they are accused of murder. In 1859, Brown's 13-year-old daughter Annie volunteers to fight alongside her father as he enacts the long-awaited plan he shared with Douglass to free people enslaved in Virginia, culminating with the raid on Harper's Ferry. Despite Brown's conviction of treason and subsequent execution, Higginbotham shows how others saw him as a moral hero. Through tragedy, triumph, outrage, and defeat, Higginbotham ably portrays the legacy of Brown and his family as stalwarts in the fight against slavery. Historical fans will feel right at home here. (Self-published)
