Third Thursday Book Club discusses The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier. Please call the library, 603-329-6411, if you wish to borrow a copy of the book.
Tracy Chevalier brings to life the Underground Railroad and illuminates the principles, passions, and realities that fueled this freedom movement.
Chevalier introduces Honor Bright, a modest English Quaker who moves to Ohio in 1850, only to find herself alienated and alone in a strange land. Sick from the moment she leaves England, and fleeing personal disappointment, she is forced by family tragedy to rely on strangers in a harsh, unfamiliar landscape. Nineteenth-century America is practical, precarious, and unsentimental, and scarred by the continuing injustice of slavery. In her new home Honor discovers that principles count for little, even within a religious community meant to be committed to human equality. However, drawn into the clandestine activities of the Underground Railroad, a network helping runaway slaves escape to freedom, Honor befriends two surprising women who embody the remarkable power of defiance. Eventually she must decide if she too can act on what she believes in, whatever the personal costs. A powerful journey, The Last Runaway is Tracy Chevalier's vivid engagement with an iconic part of American history.
Tracy Chevalier brings to life the Underground Railroad and illuminates the principles, passions, and realities that fueled this freedom movement.
Chevalier introduces Honor Bright, a modest English Quaker who moves to Ohio in 1850, only to find herself alienated and alone in a strange land. Sick from the moment she leaves England, and fleeing personal disappointment, she is forced by family tragedy to rely on strangers in a harsh, unfamiliar landscape. Nineteenth-century America is practical, precarious, and unsentimental, and scarred by the continuing injustice of slavery. In her new home Honor discovers that principles count for little, even within a religious community meant to be committed to human equality. However, drawn into the clandestine activities of the Underground Railroad, a network helping runaway slaves escape to freedom, Honor befriends two surprising women who embody the remarkable power of defiance. Eventually she must decide if she too can act on what she believes in, whatever the personal costs. A powerful journey, The Last Runaway is Tracy Chevalier's vivid engagement with an iconic part of American history.
Event Location:
Program Time:
1:00pm - 3:00pm
Room Reservation:
Thu, October 15, 2020