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A review by theoverbookedbibliophile
The Bereaved by Julia Park Tracey
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.25
Set for the most part in the late 1850s and 1860s New York City and based on the author’s family history, The Bereaved by Julia Park Tracey follows Martha Seybolt Lozier, a young widow who flees her home in Newburgh after the death of father-in-law leaves her fate and those of four children in the hands of a lecherous lawyer with whose intentions are quite clear to Martha.
Martha struggles to make ends meet in New York City while keeping her children safe. The tenement where takes a room houses several families like her own and though she does find people willing to help out, the lack of work opportunities, her exhausting supply of belongings to pawn off and almost nothing left of the money she had brought with them, Martha and her children are forced to survive on less than the bare minimum. To keep her children from starving, Martha makes the difficult choice to leave her children, initially, her two sons one of whose is a special needs child and later her daughter, Sarah, who is her oldest and her baby, Homer, in the care of The Home for the Friendless, charitable society that offers food, lodging and education to children whose family could not afford better care. Assuming this to be a temporary arrangement that would allow Martha access to her children on visitation days, Martha signs the papers not fully understanding what “surrendering” her children to the care of the organization entails. Unbeknownst to her, the organization places children with families across the country by way of “orphan trains” – a fact she comes to know after it is too late and all her children have been relocated.
The narrative follows Martha through the Civil War period as she struggles to better her own situation, find her children and reunite her family.
The Bereaved by Julia Park Tracey is a moving story that revolves around family, sacrifice, motherhood and grief. The author does an excellent job of describing the setting in terms of time and place. The story is presented from Martha’s perspective in the first-person narrative format. Martha is an admirable protagonist and we can feel her pain and despair as struggles with poverty and faces fear and despair when her children are taken from her. In an era where women had few rights or opportunities, Martha’s determination and strength are inspiring. She faces poverty, harassment, ridicule, and much more but she does not give up in her search for her children. The characters are well-developed (even the unlikeable ones) and I was engrossed in the narrative from the very first page. I enjoyed the crisp writing and the structure of the narrative. However, I did feel the ending (and a large part of the second half of the novel) was a tad rushed.
In her Note, the author shares how she was inspired to research the history of her family (Martha’s youngest child was her second great-grandfather) and the facts that she discovered in the course of her quest and how those facts were combined with some fictional elements into the crafting of this beautiful novel.
Overall, this is an incredibly moving story that I would not hesitate to recommend. Just be prepared to shed more than a few tears.
Many thanks to Sibylline Press and NetGalley for the digital review copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Martha struggles to make ends meet in New York City while keeping her children safe. The tenement where takes a room houses several families like her own and though she does find people willing to help out, the lack of work opportunities, her exhausting supply of belongings to pawn off and almost nothing left of the money she had brought with them, Martha and her children are forced to survive on less than the bare minimum. To keep her children from starving, Martha makes the difficult choice to leave her children, initially, her two sons one of whose is a special needs child and later her daughter, Sarah, who is her oldest and her baby, Homer, in the care of The Home for the Friendless, charitable society that offers food, lodging and education to children whose family could not afford better care. Assuming this to be a temporary arrangement that would allow Martha access to her children on visitation days, Martha signs the papers not fully understanding what “surrendering” her children to the care of the organization entails. Unbeknownst to her, the organization places children with families across the country by way of “orphan trains” – a fact she comes to know after it is too late and all her children have been relocated.
The narrative follows Martha through the Civil War period as she struggles to better her own situation, find her children and reunite her family.
The Bereaved by Julia Park Tracey is a moving story that revolves around family, sacrifice, motherhood and grief. The author does an excellent job of describing the setting in terms of time and place. The story is presented from Martha’s perspective in the first-person narrative format. Martha is an admirable protagonist and we can feel her pain and despair as struggles with poverty and faces fear and despair when her children are taken from her. In an era where women had few rights or opportunities, Martha’s determination and strength are inspiring. She faces poverty, harassment, ridicule, and much more but she does not give up in her search for her children. The characters are well-developed (even the unlikeable ones) and I was engrossed in the narrative from the very first page. I enjoyed the crisp writing and the structure of the narrative. However, I did feel the ending (and a large part of the second half of the novel) was a tad rushed.
In her Note, the author shares how she was inspired to research the history of her family (Martha’s youngest child was her second great-grandfather) and the facts that she discovered in the course of her quest and how those facts were combined with some fictional elements into the crafting of this beautiful novel.
Overall, this is an incredibly moving story that I would not hesitate to recommend. Just be prepared to shed more than a few tears.
Many thanks to Sibylline Press and NetGalley for the digital review copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.