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YA / Fictional Saga
1800s / early US
Civil War
South Carolina
Book 1 of Ella Wood Series
Life is good
for Emily Preston, privileged daughter of a plantation owner in South Carolina.
She is protected, but allowed her freedom within certain societal bounds. She
has time to ride and to socialise, and to go into town and meet her friends. At
the age of sixteen, however, she is deemed to be of marriageable age, and what
was permissible for her as a child is no longer so. The friends she has made
among the slaves throughout her childhood are now to be viewed as chattels and servants.
Her dreams of using her unique artistic talents as some sort of career are
shattered by a domineering father who demands that she adhere to the rules
governing female behaviour, and that a
good and acceptable marriage and children should be her only goal.
Emily Preston
has already known the wrath of her father when she was sent away to Detroit to
stay with an uncle because of her behaviour (events that are not covered by
this book). There she learned rather more than he ever intended about the nature of free will, and the
possibilities for women’s lives, and though she has kept it hidden from him,
she has developed strengths based upon that knowledge which will be called into
play as he tries to push her away from her desires and towards the goals he has
set for her.
Understanding
at last the reality of the slaves’ existence, she is shattered by what that
reveals about her father and his friends and equals. Floggings, family
separations, and unfair judgements all grate upon her, whereas he barely acknowledges
them. Those who mistreat their slaves can extend that brutality towards their
wives, but it is hushed up, even by other women who have seen the results.
Rebellion drives her father to violence, and she realises that it is the act of
a weak man, betraying all that she had believed him to be.
Determined not
to allow herself to be pushed into the empty life that has become the lot of
one of her newly-married friends, Emily begins to involve herself in dangerous
matters, made all the more so by the rumblings of war against the anti-slavery
north. For her own sake, and for that of
her friends, she is determined to act, and in doing so to risk all for them and
for herself.
The author
mixes real and imaginary characters in this novel, giving it a voice of
authenticity. Emily Preston has appeared in an earlier work aimed at a younger
audience, and it should be said that although this is described as a standalone
novel, there is reference made to a pivotal episode in her past which needs
further clarification here because it explains an important part of her
intellectual development.
It should also be noted that ‘Ella Wood’ is
not a character per se, but the plantation itself – a little confusing.
Overall, though, this is a good, involving and well-constructed read, covering a broad range of issues for women and for
Southern society on the brink of massive change.
© Lorraine
Swoboda
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I'm really enjoying this book.
ReplyDeleteThanks Loretta
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