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sarah_speaks's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Slavery
Minor: Alcohol
mmrohbock's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
5⭐
PG for low steam, but includes whipping and abuse to enslaved people
THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING. You don't need to know anything else, just go preorder it now and I promise you won't regret it because this is the best historical fiction book I've read since Yellow Wife and that is a pretty high bar right there.
Do you enjoy feeling sad when you read? What happy? Angry? Hopeful? Distraught? Thrilled? Well I felt all of those feelings reading this book and I loved every moment... Even when I got to the end and I was very worried as to whether this would be a happy book or a sad book.
A More Perfect Union is the story of a man who leaves Ireland during the potato famine for America who falls in love with a slave woman when working on a plantation and their determination to seek her freedom together. Even better? It's based on the author's great-great grandparents story.
From start to finish, this book was incredible. Sarah was this clever woman balancing refinery politics from the family who owned her to the slave who ran the household and hated Sarah. I didn't think Henry was really worthy of Sarah at first and was just a bit lovesick, but he grew to have a much deeper understanding of how his actions contributed to the condition of slavery. Sarah put Henry in his place when he tried to compare being poor to being enslaved and that conversation is sadly still relevant today when people try to equate class struggles with racism.
The reality of slavery is harrowing and Tammye Huf puts it all out there, along with the struggle of the Irish potato famine. But there were also so many beautiful tender moments between Sarah and Henry that balanced out my anger and sadness with joy and hopefulness. I loved this book and I really do want everyone to read it because it was just so special and wonderful and educational. If you like any historical fiction at all, read this book!!!!
PG for low steam, but includes whipping and abuse to enslaved people
THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING. You don't need to know anything else, just go preorder it now and I promise you won't regret it because this is the best historical fiction book I've read since Yellow Wife and that is a pretty high bar right there.
Do you enjoy feeling sad when you read? What happy? Angry? Hopeful? Distraught? Thrilled? Well I felt all of those feelings reading this book and I loved every moment... Even when I got to the end and I was very worried as to whether this would be a happy book or a sad book.
A More Perfect Union is the story of a man who leaves Ireland during the potato famine for America who falls in love with a slave woman when working on a plantation and their determination to seek her freedom together. Even better? It's based on the author's great-great grandparents story.
From start to finish, this book was incredible. Sarah was this clever woman balancing refinery politics from the family who owned her to the slave who ran the household and hated Sarah. I didn't think Henry was really worthy of Sarah at first and was just a bit lovesick, but he grew to have a much deeper understanding of how his actions contributed to the condition of slavery. Sarah put Henry in his place when he tried to compare being poor to being enslaved and that conversation is sadly still relevant today when people try to equate class struggles with racism.
The reality of slavery is harrowing and Tammye Huf puts it all out there, along with the struggle of the Irish potato famine. But there were also so many beautiful tender moments between Sarah and Henry that balanced out my anger and sadness with joy and hopefulness. I loved this book and I really do want everyone to read it because it was just so special and wonderful and educational. If you like any historical fiction at all, read this book!!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Violence, and Racism
Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault
serendipitysbooks's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
A More Perfect Union was a really solid, enjoyable read. At first glance it was a standard “slave story” for want of a better term. Novels that centre on enslaved peoples in the American South understandably have a lot in common and I come close to thinking I’ve read my fill of them. This one, however, had a couple of unique points of interest. The first is that it centred on a romance, based on a true story from the author’s own family, between Sarah, an enslaved woman and Henry, a free white man, a migrant from Ireland who came to work on the plantation as a freelance blacksmith.
The other aspect of this novel that especially interested me was the links it made between the treatment of the Irish by the English, especially around the time of the famine, and the treatment of enslaved Blacks. Obviously the Irish were treated appalling by the English and also faced discrimination in America. Yet their situation in no way compares to the reality of being enslaved. I loved how the author had Henry, perhaps understandably, make some comparisons early in the novel, then had Sarah push back and point out the reality of her situation and how it differed fundamentally from what he had experienced, and how Henry came to see the truth of this himself. An example of real character growth.
There’s more to the book than this but these are two of the factors that made it stand it to me.
The other aspect of this novel that especially interested me was the links it made between the treatment of the Irish by the English, especially around the time of the famine, and the treatment of enslaved Blacks. Obviously the Irish were treated appalling by the English and also faced discrimination in America. Yet their situation in no way compares to the reality of being enslaved. I loved how the author had Henry, perhaps understandably, make some comparisons early in the novel, then had Sarah push back and point out the reality of her situation and how it differed fundamentally from what he had experienced, and how Henry came to see the truth of this himself. An example of real character growth.
There’s more to the book than this but these are two of the factors that made it stand it to me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Slavery, and Violence
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