A review by elentikvah
The Mapmaker's Children by Sarah McCoy
4.0
This book caught my eye while I was browsing this author in the library, so I picked it up on a whim.
My first recalled exposure to John Brown was via a black&white movie about the Harper's Ferry raid. Then in the early 1990s, our family took a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Washington, DC, during which we visited Harper's Ferry and I learned that a BvtCol. Robert E. Lee commanded the US forces sent to deal with this raid. Now, at that time, I was definitively a product of the propaganda campaign of the United Daughters of the Confederacy's "Lost Cause" mythology that is called "history" throughout most of the South. By definition, Lee was the hero of this story, and Brown was definitely the villian.
Over the last few years, I have deconstructed most of the mythology that I was taught and along with that has come some new curiosity about notable abolitionists. So, I picked up a story about John Brown's daughter, Sarah.
This book is written with dual-POVs - Sarah Brown, daughter of John Brown, and Eden Anderson. While I usually enjoy most dual-POV stories, this one felt a bit contrived. This may be because I really just did not like Eden - at all. Though I liked many of the modern characters - Cleo really steals the show, imo! - something just felt off, like the modern story was trying too hard. Sarah's story, OTOH, really pulled me in and kept me interested.
Lastly, trigger warning for infertility trauma - as a couple that has dealt with this grief, I was not mentally prepared to see the specter raised *repeatedly* throughout Eden's storyline. While our journey through infertility did not mirror Eden's, her rehash of emotional turmoil is a challenge and probably contributed to my frustration with this character's arc.
As always, the Author's Note in a historical fiction book is one of my favorite sections, as the pieces of a tale that I have enjoyed are teased apart by the author into known history and storytelling. In this area, McCoy did not disappoint.
Rating 4/5 stars
12 hrs and 21 mins / 320 pages
Audiobook / Kindle
My first recalled exposure to John Brown was via a black&white movie about the Harper's Ferry raid. Then in the early 1990s, our family took a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Washington, DC, during which we visited Harper's Ferry and I learned that a BvtCol. Robert E. Lee commanded the US forces sent to deal with this raid. Now, at that time, I was definitively a product of the propaganda campaign of the United Daughters of the Confederacy's "Lost Cause" mythology that is called "history" throughout most of the South. By definition, Lee was the hero of this story, and Brown was definitely the villian.
Over the last few years, I have deconstructed most of the mythology that I was taught and along with that has come some new curiosity about notable abolitionists. So, I picked up a story about John Brown's daughter, Sarah.
This book is written with dual-POVs - Sarah Brown, daughter of John Brown, and Eden Anderson. While I usually enjoy most dual-POV stories, this one felt a bit contrived. This may be because I really just did not like Eden - at all. Though I liked many of the modern characters - Cleo really steals the show, imo! - something just felt off, like the modern story was trying too hard. Sarah's story, OTOH, really pulled me in and kept me interested.
Lastly, trigger warning for infertility trauma - as a couple that has dealt with this grief, I was not mentally prepared to see the specter raised *repeatedly* throughout Eden's storyline. While our journey through infertility did not mirror Eden's, her rehash of emotional turmoil is a challenge and probably contributed to my frustration with this character's arc.
As always, the Author's Note in a historical fiction book is one of my favorite sections, as the pieces of a tale that I have enjoyed are teased apart by the author into known history and storytelling. In this area, McCoy did not disappoint.
Rating 4/5 stars
12 hrs and 21 mins / 320 pages
Audiobook / Kindle