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marilynw 's review for:
The Punishing Journey of Arthur Delaney
by Bob Kroll
The Punishing Journey of Arthur Delaney
by Bob Kroll, narrated by Blair Williams
The saga of Arthur Delaney and his three children is heartbreaking and covers more than two decades. After Arthur's beloved wife dies, he's left alone to raise their three young children, a boy and two girls. In his grief and devastation he fears he isn't up to the task, especially the task of raising daughters. Between talks by a woman who convinces others that her orphanage will give children the upbringing they need and abolitionist talks urging others to join the Union Army in the fight to end slavery (oh the irony), Arthur signs his children over to the orphanage and spends the next years fighting for the Union army, almost dying as a prisoner of war, and then recovering from his time as a POW. When he can, he makes the long journey back to Halifax to be reunited with his children.
Arthur has deep regrets for breaking his promise to his wife to take care of the children and keep them together. He never stopped loving his children and knows he gave up something very precious by leaving them in the hands of others. But he's going home to be the father he should have been to his children. This story is one of long journeys, suffering, and deep regret, and it seems those things will never end, not for Arthur, not for his children, and not for all the impoverished and down on their luck.
We follow not only Arthur but his three children, who were sold and resold as farm workers, some of the many children of those times and later that were nothing more than beasts of burden, to be starved and worked to death. Each of them holds onto their memories of their loving family of five, mother, father, siblings, and try to survive in any way that they can. The story is told in such a way that the times and years are a bit fuzzy, but we are aware of the miles that Arthur travels in his search for his children, one he never gives up.
The narration of the audiobook is perfect for this story. It's told in a very matter of fact way, with little embellishment to dress up the words. This is a hard story to hear but I could not put the story down until I made it to the end. Arthur's love for his late wife and his children is all that keeps him going and I had to see him through this journey.
Published June 30, 2022
Thank you to ECW Press Audio and NetGalley for this ARC.
by Bob Kroll, narrated by Blair Williams
The saga of Arthur Delaney and his three children is heartbreaking and covers more than two decades. After Arthur's beloved wife dies, he's left alone to raise their three young children, a boy and two girls. In his grief and devastation he fears he isn't up to the task, especially the task of raising daughters. Between talks by a woman who convinces others that her orphanage will give children the upbringing they need and abolitionist talks urging others to join the Union Army in the fight to end slavery (oh the irony), Arthur signs his children over to the orphanage and spends the next years fighting for the Union army, almost dying as a prisoner of war, and then recovering from his time as a POW. When he can, he makes the long journey back to Halifax to be reunited with his children.
Arthur has deep regrets for breaking his promise to his wife to take care of the children and keep them together. He never stopped loving his children and knows he gave up something very precious by leaving them in the hands of others. But he's going home to be the father he should have been to his children. This story is one of long journeys, suffering, and deep regret, and it seems those things will never end, not for Arthur, not for his children, and not for all the impoverished and down on their luck.
We follow not only Arthur but his three children, who were sold and resold as farm workers, some of the many children of those times and later that were nothing more than beasts of burden, to be starved and worked to death. Each of them holds onto their memories of their loving family of five, mother, father, siblings, and try to survive in any way that they can. The story is told in such a way that the times and years are a bit fuzzy, but we are aware of the miles that Arthur travels in his search for his children, one he never gives up.
The narration of the audiobook is perfect for this story. It's told in a very matter of fact way, with little embellishment to dress up the words. This is a hard story to hear but I could not put the story down until I made it to the end. Arthur's love for his late wife and his children is all that keeps him going and I had to see him through this journey.
Published June 30, 2022
Thank you to ECW Press Audio and NetGalley for this ARC.