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The Story Of Land And Sea CD: A Novel (2014)

by Katy Simpson Smith(Favorite Author)

3.09 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0062350900 (ISBN13: 9780062350909)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

HarperAudio

review 1: My thanks to Goodreads and Harper Collins for a complimentary copy of this excellently written novel.This story is told in three parts over 23 years from 1771 – 1794. The setting is North Carolina.John lives with his 10 year old daughter Tabitha, his wife Helen died in childbirth having Tabitha. John, once a pirate and then turned soldier during the civil war, settled down and became a shopkeeper when he married Helen against the wishes of her father, Asa. When Tabitha contracts Yellow Fever, John decides to steal her away on a ship believing the open sea will offer a cure for her illness. Asa, a religious man had wanted John to leave Tabitha’s destiny to God.Twenty years earlier Helen, whose mother died in childbirth and lives with her father on their Plantation is gi... moreven a slave girl, Moll, for her 10th birthday. It is hoped that Helen will learn discipline however the two girls develop an ongoing friendship.The relationship/friendship is that of owner/slave and although Moll does not experience physical hardship at the hands of her new owner she is forever at someone else’s behest. This debut novel by Katy Simpson Smith is beautifully written, elegant and intelligent. A powerful story about love, loss, hardship, power and slavery.Deeply moving and thought provoking, this is not an uplifting read, however nevertheless well worth reading and rereading.
review 2: This was a lovely little book set in post-Revolutionary North Carolina. It tells the story of a father and his son-in-law, and the women they loved who died at a very young age (the first daughter died in childbirth; the second daughter died of yellow fever). It's also about a slave companion to the first daughter, and her son.The story was written by a Mount Holyoke alumna, who has a Phd in history from UNC. Her other book is called "We have raised all of you : motherhood in the South, 1750-1835," and I find it ironic that this book has no southern mothers, even though it's set in this time period.Anyway, it was a good novel. less

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