The Mapmaker's Children
It always pleases me to read historical fiction done right. The Mapmaker’s Children by Sarah Mc Coy is extremely well done and interesting.
In this novel, Mc Coy introduces the reader to Sarah Brown the daughter of the abolitionist John Brown. While the author took liberties, her extensive three years of research establish the foundation for this remarkable story.
Sarah Brown was an artist and an activist that clearly was involved in the Under Ground Railroad. She never married but her love for children fostered a lot of her actions both in the South and later when she relocated to California.
Mc Coy’s story imagines a link to a modern day woman named Eden. Her life crisis evolves around the fact that she is unable to become pregnant. While she and her husband struggle to cope with this issue, they move to New Charlestown, VA and buy a house in a neighborhood historically tied to Sarah Brown and the Civil War.
In alternating chapters, the past and the present weave together. Historical facts about the UGRR (Under Ground Rail Road) as well as the personalities involved in it’s success are delivered seamlessly throughout the novel.
This reader can never get enough of historical fiction especially when it is written in the in this period of history. Thank you, Blogging for Books for providing me with the book for review. I encourage followers of historical fiction not to let this one pass. It is well worth the read.
