Title: The Last Runaway Author: Tracy Chevalier
Published: October 29, 2013
Genre(s): Historical Fiction
Page Count: 320
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:Ohio 1850. For a modest English Quaker stranded far from home, life is a trial. Untethered from the moment she leaves England, fleeing personal disappointment, Honor Bright is forced by family tragedy to rely on strangers in an alien, untamed landscape. Drawn into the clandestine activities of the Underground Railroad, a network helping runaway slaves escape to freedom, Honor befriends two exceptional people who embody the startling power of defiance. Eventually she must decide if she too can act on what she believes in, whatever the personal cost.
I purchased The Last Runaway on a whim at some point several months ago, possibly because I was slightly intrigued by the jacket copy, or perhaps not. Like any random selection, it had the potential to go quite wrong (or quite right), but I think that, all in all, this is a solid historical novel. Though I had some issues with it, it was a quick read than was entertaining and interesting.
I must confess that the story was a bit strange to me—a lot more humdrum than I’d anticipated. When you think of the Underground Railroad, I think the tendency is to think of drama and close escapes and danger. Those elements are certainly at work here, but in an understated way. In some respects, The Last Runaway reads more like a novel about a 19th century Quaker immigrant and how she adjusts to life in the United States than a novel about a woman helping runaway slaves. Chevalier’s presentation is not high on drama or emphasis on the slavery aspect—Honor doesn’t meet a runaway until halfway through the book. I was also distracted by how much of the plot seems to revolve around Honor’s hobby of quilting. She’s constantly thinking about her quilts, and one of the tensest moments in the entire novel is when her future mother-in-law discovers that she doesn’t have enough quilts to bring with her husband’s home (sort of like a dowry, I guess). While that historical detail is certainly interesting, it was hard to care much about Honor’s difficulties in sewing when there are issues like slavery at hand.
There is a very weird love triangle at work here. Honor, for the first time in her life, feels attraction toward a man—two men. First, a Southern slave catcher; second, a sloppy young Quaker man. Honor marries the latter but still feels attraction to the former. And in spite of her upbringing, Honor looses her virginity to a near-stranger in a cornfield with seemingly no compunctions. I would have thought she’d have had a more conservative upbringing, all things considered. Back to the love triangle, the author resolves the it in one of the most annoying tactics even in the resolution of love triangles.
Chevalier, however, has a knack for historical detail. The Quaker lifestyle as well as the ins and outs of the Underground Railroad are explored her in a way that’s different from what I’ve experienced before. I think it’s clear the author did her research, and as setting is one of the more important aspects of the historical novel, I was appreciative. Likewise, I enjoy the author’s prose. It’s not flashy, but it’s smooth and engaging and carried me along the story’s progression.
But in conclusion, The Last Runaway worked well for me as an interesting historical story, but it wasn’t anything truly special either. I enjoyed this book.
