I have to say I was drawn in by the gorgeous cover of this book. And when I first started to read it I wasn't sure if it was for me. How utterly wrong I was!
May Bedloe works as her cousins seamstress in the theatre. When the boat they're travelling on has an explosion and a catastrophic mortality rate, May and her cousin Comfort end up parting ways.
May finds work as a seamstress on a floating theatre that travels the Ohio river. Set before the American civil war, slavery is still very much in force, and the divide between the north and south is ever present.
May struggles to understand at first the insidious nature of slavery. Instead she is curious and questioning, not realising how controversial her questions are. However as she travels on and sees things first hand she truly unravels the barbaric trade.
Compelled by an outstanding debt, May becomes secretly entwined in transporting slave passengers to freedom in the North. She then truly realises the dangers of the abolitionists plight and to those who are enslaved.
This book is utterly wonderful. I was genuinely anxious when reading through the chapters where May is covertly ferrying passengers from south to north and couldn't read fast enough to find their fate.
Conway manages to balance the lightness of the theatre stories and weave the tense atmosphere of the slave trade.
A very thought provoking book.
I would like to thank Readers First for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
May Bedloe works as her cousins seamstress in the theatre. When the boat they're travelling on has an explosion and a catastrophic mortality rate, May and her cousin Comfort end up parting ways.
May finds work as a seamstress on a floating theatre that travels the Ohio river. Set before the American civil war, slavery is still very much in force, and the divide between the north and south is ever present.
May struggles to understand at first the insidious nature of slavery. Instead she is curious and questioning, not realising how controversial her questions are. However as she travels on and sees things first hand she truly unravels the barbaric trade.
Compelled by an outstanding debt, May becomes secretly entwined in transporting slave passengers to freedom in the North. She then truly realises the dangers of the abolitionists plight and to those who are enslaved.
This book is utterly wonderful. I was genuinely anxious when reading through the chapters where May is covertly ferrying passengers from south to north and couldn't read fast enough to find their fate.
Conway manages to balance the lightness of the theatre stories and weave the tense atmosphere of the slave trade.
A very thought provoking book.
I would like to thank Readers First for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.