"Take this rock from you papa's land. You hold on to it, never lose it. That rock comes from clear water, so your mind will be clear. Keep the land on your heart and on your mind. Maybe one day it'll help you find your way back. Your papa's always with you. Don't forget that, Jeanette. I'll be praying for you. Now go."
-Dorinda, from the novel
Jeanette Béḃinn was born on the Catalpa Valley plantation in Louisiana, daughter of an enslaved woman and the white landowner. She was raised in the big house with her white half-sister to the chagrin of the mistress of the house. Jeanette and her father had a very close and loving relationship but when he died, the evil mistress sold her into slavery. She ended up on a Mississippi plantation, learning firsthand what slaves had to endure.
Passing for a white woman with her slave, Silas, she reached Philadelphia and later New York. She eventually made her way to Ohio where she wass hired as a teacher in a community established to give sanctuary to escaped slaves. She lived at Fortitude Mansion, which was owned by Chirstopher Robichaud Colchester, a white man who founded this community. They formed an emotional connection, but Jeanette was confused about what such a union would mean. She ran away and ended up a nurse with the Union army, while the Civil War was raging. In the meantime, Colchester has joined the Union war effort, as well.
My husband and I, for a few years, traveled to various Civil War battlefields. Jeanette ends up near the battles of Shiloh and Vicksburg, sites we have visited. That was very interesting as I tried to remember some of what we had learned about those sites.
Will that rock given to Jeanette by Dorinda (see quote) see her back to Catalpa Valley? I'll never tell!
I rate the book a 3. Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres, but parts of this novel seemed pretty difficult to believe.
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