Comment

Jun 06, 2014DorisWaggoner rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Honor begins her trip to America with her sister thinking she can return to England if things don't go well, but her terrible seasickness makes her realize she must find a way to live in her new home. This is harder when disaster strikes her beloved sister, and she finds her brother-in-law isn't expecting her. Her only friend in this strange land is a milliner who kindly takes her in, makes use of her sewing skills, and protects her. Honor begins by expecting America to conform to her English ideas, but learns no one is interested in them. The OH frontier of 1850 is much too raw and dangerous for that, especially as she finds herself involved in the slavery issue. This separates even Quaker families, as she learns to her dismay. Honor can speak her true mind only in letters to her best friend in England, which will take months to reach her. Ultimately, she begins to grow into a sense of herself, with her own values for a new land. A quiet book, with more action in retrospect than the spare prose makes you think in the reading. As with other of Chevalier's books, I'd like another telling what happens next.