In tones of self-righteous condescension, she constantly denigrates the women around her while playing up her own superiority.Ībigail is no domestic goddess. This seems to have more to do with animal magnetism than idealism, as Honor singularly fails to extend such Christian tolerance to her new family. Donovan is a slave-catcher, relentlessly hunting down runaways and returning them to their masters, but he is craggily attractive and Honor believes she can sense "the light" in him. In helping slaves, Honor puts her law-abiding new family at risk, and the problem is compounded by the fact that Belle Mills's disreputable brother Donovan has taken a fancy to her. The Quakers believe in equality but also want to abide by the law. The Fugitive Slave Act has been passed: it is illegal to assist a runaway slave, and there are heavy penalties. Honor can't adjust, but can't face the journey back, and things don't improve when she marries Jack Haymaker, a young farmer she hardly knows, and moves in with him and his unfriendly mother and sister.Ī huge moral dilemma arises when Honor becomes involved with the Underground Railroad. Honor finds the American style brash and simplistic the other women don't take to the more subtle English techniques she uses. The Quakers are quilters, and much time is given to describing their traditional art. Her research, as always, is meticulous and lightly worn. Chevalier immerses herself in period and place, and a wealth of domestic detail is deftly conveyed.
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