The Abolitionist's Daughter
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3.8 • 35 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
In her sweeping debut, Diane C. McPhail offers a powerful, profoundly emotional novel that explores a little-known aspect of Civil War history—Southern Abolitionists—and the timeless struggle to do right even amidst bitter conflict.
On a Mississippi morning in 1859, Emily Matthews begs her father to save a slave, Nathan, about to be auctioned away from his family. Judge Matthews is an abolitionist who runs an illegal school for his slaves, hoping to eventually set them free. One, a woman named Ginny, has become Emily’s companion and often her conscience—and understands all too well the hazards an educated slave must face. Yet even Ginny could not predict the tangled, tragic string of events set in motion as Nathan’s family arrives at the Matthews farm.
A young doctor, Charles Slate, tends to injured Nathan and begins to court Emily, finally persuading her to become his wife. But their union is disrupted by a fatal clash and a lie that will tear two families apart. As Civil War erupts, Emily, Ginny, and Emily’s stoic mother-in-law, Adeline, each face devastating losses. Emily—sheltered all her life—is especially unprepared for the hardships to come. Struggling to survive in this raw, shifting new world, Emily will discover untapped inner strength, an unlikely love, and the courage to confront deep, painful truths.
“McPhail’s first novel sheds light on an often unrecognized part of Civil War history . . . For fans of Charles Frazier’s enduring Cold Mountain.”
—Booklist
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
McPhail's dramatic but uneven debut centers on a land dispute in the antebellum South. Emily Matthews is the kind daughter of Southern abolitionist Judge Matthews, who educates runaway slaves that he cannot free (because Mississippi has outlawed manumission) at his illegal school. Two years before the Civil War begins, Emily and Ginny, Emily's friend and a slave Matthews educated, learn that the violent Holbert Conklin wants to sell his slave Nathan, which would separate him from his wife. After Matthews buys Nathan and his family to keep them together, doctor Charles Slate, who courts and marries Emily, tends to the severely injured Nathan. The Matthews farm, an underground save haven, becomes the center of unwanted attention when Emily's brother Jeremiah returns after learning Matthews changed his will to leave Emily his land. The family is further thrown into disarray as Belinda, the widow of their dead brother, also seeks a claim on the land. After the Civil War begins, the family strife and wartime violence force naive Emily to mature into a resilient mother who endures multiple tragedies. Unfortunately, Matthews, Jeremiah, Charles, Nathan, and Nathan's family are barely explored. McPhail lays out many intriguing threads but fails to bring them together into a coherent whole.
Customer Reviews
Summer Pursuits
This title is a decent read with some historical background but it left me longing for more substance. This book seems to be more of the romance novel genera with the horrors of the Civil War barely providing more than a glancing blow in their lives. Slavery also is fluffed up and romanticized. I even spotted a typo. (“Sliver tea service.”) All in all, this novel was mostly a pleasant diversion for a brutally hot week which I spent indoors. The ending was rather disappointing and predictable and ended the book at an odd point perhaps inviting a sequel. I’ll pass, thanks.