You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Very nice read, fast and gripping despite the plot not being action-heavy. It's not revolutionary but it gives very nice vibes, and it's deeper than I expected. Also, despite being a lighter read, it manages to avoid many stereotypes around white saviourism and the like. Honor’s inner conflict and her realization, thanks to Mrs. Elsie Reed, that she alone does not carry the weight of the world but, rather, that her ignorance and apolitical/humanitarian stance does not make up for her whole good heart and actually may be detrimental to the cause was unexpected and very well done in my opinion.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Honor Bright is a Quaker whose fiancé has decided to marry another woman - even at the cost of leaving his church to be with her. Honor feels her life's plans being erased and, desperate to start fresh, she decides to join her sister, Grace, who is traveling to America to marry. Unfortunately, Grace succumbs to disease before arriving at her new home, and Honor arrives alone, her new start ruined, unsure how (or if) she will ever fit in.
It isn't until she is safely in the US that she finds comfort in helping others - runaway slaves, to be exact. Against the express wishes of her new family, she helps feed and shelter runaways, and it gives her some hope. But how can she be at home in a place where she and her new family disagree on an issue that could literally be life and death?
Bonus: Honor is a talented seamstress. I now know a lot about quilt making.
It isn't until she is safely in the US that she finds comfort in helping others - runaway slaves, to be exact. Against the express wishes of her new family, she helps feed and shelter runaways, and it gives her some hope. But how can she be at home in a place where she and her new family disagree on an issue that could literally be life and death?
Bonus: Honor is a talented seamstress. I now know a lot about quilt making.
This was not Tracy Chevalier's best work, but it was an enjoyable read anyway. The story's focus is on shy, introspective Quaker Honor Bright, a young seamstress and quilt maker from Dorset, England who experiences a series of unfortunate events and is presented with more than one moral dilemma when she emigrates to a Quaker settlement near Oberlin, Ohio in pre-Civil War days. A PG-13 version of Little House on the Prairie.
(a catch-up review, written in 2013)
“The Last Runaway” by Tracy Chevalier is my favorite book of hers since “The Girl with a Pearl Earring.” Set in the US between the founding of Oberlin College and the passing of the Fugitive Slave Act, it captures the frontier life and unsettledness of Ohio, which still functions for many as a "pass-through" state. Chevalier has captured the gentle voice of her principled but young Quaker heroine set adrift in this space due to series of events.
The distinctions between the heroine's town life in England and the wildness of life in the tiny towns in northern Ohio, with folks trying to tame the forests into farmlands and slaves trying to escape to Canada, are a constant theme. Since I spent a month in England this summer (2013), I found these distinctions particularly interesting and true, even many years later. My own love of quilting (I actually bought the novel in a quilt museum shop) was another connection with the heroine, whose love of and skill in the art sustain her through the many changes in her circumstances.
The author seems also to have captured well the communal nature of Quaker life, the building of sustainable communities, the "peculiar" nature of their particular brand of Christianity, the nature of communal silence as well as its shaping of character through the years. Non-quakers highlight these distinctions as well as opening the heroine to a wider world. The story alternates between narrative and the heroine's various letters to family and friends. The complexity of issues and human flaws add to the truth of the novel.
“The Last Runaway” by Tracy Chevalier is my favorite book of hers since “The Girl with a Pearl Earring.” Set in the US between the founding of Oberlin College and the passing of the Fugitive Slave Act, it captures the frontier life and unsettledness of Ohio, which still functions for many as a "pass-through" state. Chevalier has captured the gentle voice of her principled but young Quaker heroine set adrift in this space due to series of events.
The distinctions between the heroine's town life in England and the wildness of life in the tiny towns in northern Ohio, with folks trying to tame the forests into farmlands and slaves trying to escape to Canada, are a constant theme. Since I spent a month in England this summer (2013), I found these distinctions particularly interesting and true, even many years later. My own love of quilting (I actually bought the novel in a quilt museum shop) was another connection with the heroine, whose love of and skill in the art sustain her through the many changes in her circumstances.
The author seems also to have captured well the communal nature of Quaker life, the building of sustainable communities, the "peculiar" nature of their particular brand of Christianity, the nature of communal silence as well as its shaping of character through the years. Non-quakers highlight these distinctions as well as opening the heroine to a wider world. The story alternates between narrative and the heroine's various letters to family and friends. The complexity of issues and human flaws add to the truth of the novel.
I love this book. It holds for me many of my own values, principles and interests which still hold this day: the injustice of discrimination; the abolition of all forms of slavery; the beauty of spirituality; the comfort and joy in the making of quilts! The book was moving and realistic - although I leave it to others with more knowledge to know if it is true to life. I shall treasure this book, read over a weekend.
Excellent summer read for me. Great story line and interesting to learn about the Quakers, their involvement in the Underground Railroad, and quilting.
I suddenly remembered Chevalier while browsing the library shelves for Katherine Center--I have always been amazed by how Chevalier can recreate a historical experience so deeply and completely, and The Last Runaway is no exception. It focuses on the experience of a young Quaker woman who comes from England to Ohio in the 1850's and has to find her way in the new world. Chevalier draws from Dickens's and DeToqueville's observations of "the American personality" (among other sources) to create a fascinating picture of how alien that new country felt, even a few decades along, to someone from England.
Good story telling and absorbing plot. Highly recommended!
Good story telling and absorbing plot. Highly recommended!
Story of a Quaker from England who comes to America with her sister. Honor becomes involved in the underground railroad and assists slaves in running away. Loved the development of Honor in a strange country with strange, new customs, and the friends that she meets along the way.