"The Last Runaway" by Tracy Chevalier ~ Poignant & Powerful

 

 

SUMMARY: 

New York Times bestselling author of Girl With a Pearl Earring Tracy Chevalier makes her first fictional foray into the American past in The Last Runaway, bringing to life the Underground Railroad and illuminating the principles, passions and realities that fueled this extraordinary freedom movement.

In New York Times bestselling author Tracy Chevalier’s newest historical saga, she introduces Honor Bright, a modest English Quaker who moves to Ohio in 1850, only to find herself alienated and alone in a strange land. Sick from the moment she leaves England, and fleeing personal disappointment, she is forced by family tragedy to rely on strangers in a harsh, unfamiliar landscape.

Nineteenth-century America is practical, precarious, and unsentimental, and scarred by the continuing injustice of slavery. In her new home Honor discovers that principles count for little, even within a religious community meant to be committed to human equality.

However, drawn into the clandestine activities of the Underground Railroad, a network helping runaway slaves escape to freedom, Honor befriends two surprising women who embody the remarkable power of defiance. Eventually she must decide if she too can act on what she believes in, whatever the personal costs.

A powerful journey brimming with color and drama, The Last Runaway is Tracy Chevalier’s vivid engagement with an iconic part of American history.

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :
Published by:  Penguin Group
Pages:  320
Genre:  Fiction/Historical Fiction
Purchase:  Barnes & Noble
Find out more here:  Tracy Chevalier


ABOUT MS. CHEVALIER :
 

 

 

Tracy Chevalier first gained attention by imagining the answer to one of art history's small but intriguing questions: Who is the subject of Johannes Vermeer's painting "Girl with a Pearl Earring"?

It was a bold move on Chevalier's part to build a story around the somewhat mysterious 17th-century Dutch painter and his unassuming but luminous subject; but the author's purist approach helped set the tone. "I decided early on that I wanted [Girl] to be a simple story, simply told, and to imitate with words what Vermeer was doing with paint," Chevalier told her college's alumni magazine. "That may sound unbelievably pretentious, but I didn't mean it as 'I can do Vermeer in words.' I wanted to write it in a way that Vermeer would have painted: very simple lines, simple compositions, not a lot of clutter, and not a lot of superfluous characters."

Chevalier achieved her objective expertly, helped by the fact that she employed the famous Girl as narrator of the story. Sixteen-year-old Griet becomes a maid in Vermeer's tumultuous household, developing an apprentice relationship with the painter while drawing attention from other men and jealousy from women. Praise for the novel poured in: "Chevalier's exploration into the soul of this complex but naïve young woman is moving, and her depiction of 17th-century Delft is marvelously evocative," wrote the New York Times Book Review. The Wall Street Journal called it "vibrant and sumptuous."Girl with a Pearl Earring was not Chevalier's first exploration of the past. In The Virgin Blue, her U.K.-published first novel (due for a U.S. edition in 2003), her modern-day character Ella Turner goes back to 16th-century France in order to revisit her family history. As a result, she finds parallels between herself and a troubled ancestor -- a woman whose fate had been unknown until Ella discovers it. With 2001's Falling Angels, Chevalier -- a former reference book editor who began her fiction career by enrolling in the graduate writing program at University of East Anglia -- continued to tell stories of women in the past. But she has been open about the fact that compared to writing Girl with a Pearl Earring, the "nightmare" creating of her third novel was difficult and fraught with complications, even tears. The pressure of her previous success, coupled with a first draft that wasn't working out, made Chevalier want to abandon the effort altogether. Then, reading Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible led Chevalier to change her approach. "[Kingsolver] did such a fantastic job using different voices and I thought, with Falling Angels, I've told it in the wrong way," Chevalier told Bookpage magazine. "I wanted it to have lots of perspective." With that, Chevalier began a rewrite of her tale about two families in the first decade of 20th-century London. With more than ten narrators (some more prominent than others), Falling Angels has perspective in spades and lots to maintain interest over its relatively brief span: a marriage in trouble, a girlhood friendship born at Highgate Cemetery, a woman's introduction to the suffragette movement. A spirited, fast-paced story, Falling Angels again earned critical praise. "This moving, bittersweet book flaunts Chevalier's gift for creating complex characters and an engaging plot," Book magazine concluded.

Chevalier continues to pursue her fascination with art and history in her fourth novel, on which she is currently at work. According to Oberlin Alumni Magazine, she is basing the book on the Lady and the Unicorn medieval tapestries that hang in Paris's Cluny Museum.


Book Trailer:

 

 

 

 

THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

 

It is such a pleasure to read and review a really good book.  Tracy Chevalier's "The Last Runaway" was just that...a very good book.  I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it.  It was completely engaging from the start and I found myself missing the characters when I would put the book away to do housework or errands.  This is one of those books I would absolutely have no problem recommending to everyone.

 

Chevalier is a master storyteller.  The plot is driven by her fabulous cast of characters.  These are characters that wedge themselves deep in your heart and psyche.  I was smitten from the start with the "bad boy" of the novel,  Donovan, for instance.  I'm sorry...he was just too juicy a creation even though he was a villain. But, each and every one of her people are truly remarkable in their own right.

 

I loved her main protagonist, Honor Bright for her innocence, her courage and her needle working skills.  Chevalier showed intimate understanding of the meditative quality of needlework and fixed that into her character.  She was able to convey the serenity Honor maintained through this medium, as well as her other Quaker ways.   Honor's growth as a young woman in the wilds of a new America comes full circle as we read, bringing such depth to her personality.

 

The human conflicts in the novel are masterfully composed.  I thought the situations involving slaves and the Underground Railroad were richly captured.  Ms Chevalier is a wonder at conveying personal interactions and tragedies throughout the book.  I had a gut reaction several times to things that happened to Honor.

 

This is a book that should appeal to many across the board whether you like contemporary fiction, historicals or a bit of suspense.  I had a hard time leaving the book at the end.  No doubt another best seller for Tracy Chevalier...

 

5 stars           Deborah/TheBookishDame

 

 

 

 

 



 

"The Needle in the Blood" by Sarah Bower~And A History of The Bayeux Tapestry

Had to share with you this other cover, and perhaps more importantly information on the awe inspiring Bayeux Tapestry itself. I couldn't resist sharing the history and some photographs of the amazing tapestry for those who love art history, needlework and this period of English  history.

Of course, I also wanted to share more about Ms Bower who has brought so much attention to The Bayeux Tapestry and needlework in her historical saga.

Sarah's summary of her book:

A tale of sexual obsession and the redemptive power of love inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry.
January 1067. Charismatic bishop Odo of Bayeux decides to commission a wall hanging, on a scale never seen before, to celebrate his role in the conquest of Britain by his brother, William, Duke of Normandy. What he cannot anticipate is how utterly this will change his life - even more than the invasion itself. His life becomes entangled with the women who embroider his hanging, especially Gytha - handmaid to the mistress of the fallen Saxon king and his sworn enemy. But against their intensions they fall passionately in love; in doing so Odo comes into conflict with his king and his God and Gytha with Odo’s enemies, who mistrust her hold over such a powerful man. Friends and family become enemies, enemies become lovers; nothing in life or in the hanging is what it seems.

More biography on Ms Bower:

Sarah was born and brought up in Yorkshire but now lives in Suffolk with her husband and two grown-up sons, not to mention the two golden retrievers, three chickens and an elderly, obese cat. She works for Creative Arts East, an arts development agency in Norfolk, managing projects to promote reading and creative writing. She also teaches creative writing at the University of East Anglia, where she completed a creative writing MA in 2002. She has published fiction and non-fiction in journals as various as MsLexia and British Industry. She was short-listed for the Curtis Brown scholarship at UEA in 2001/02 and has had success in a number of short story competitions, most recently as winner of the Café Writers Short Fiction Competition 2005.
Sarah has a weakness for lost causes and spends much of her leisure time watching England play cricket. Apart from being successful as a novelist, her biggest ambition is to spend a year travelling the world with the Barmy Army.

And now~

The Bayeux Tapestry:

This is only a very small section, of course.  It shows William the Conqueror specifically, however, and the brilliance of the colors that may have been used, which is why I show it. 

The colors in the preserved, authentic Bayeux Tapestry have actually faded at this point.  This is a reproduction.

Here is the actual piece in the faded colors with William and his soldiers. See symbols of the saints on the bottom right (facing)  Interesting that this needlewoman has taken liberties with this piece; i.e., she's mixed up the horse's leg colors, etc... while the embroiderer of the Saxon tribute below is careful in her depiction.  It's believed to be that Saxon women were stitchers of The Tapestry...

This is a photograph of the actual Tapestry.  The colors are faded as expected.  You see the blue now as green.  It depicts and says in Latin, "Here sits Harold, King of the Saxons..."  and probably something about his glory or being to the glory of God.

Amazing story, symbolism, detail of court life, costume, pomp and circumstance!  Note the turrets of the castle and battlements.  Harold is holding the scepter and globe that the Kings and Queens of England held and still hold today in their coronations and full regalia.  Beautiful robes...  The animals symbolize fidelity, power and the House of Saxony, as well as other things. 

While it was decided not to use gold or silver threads, the gold-toned threads tell the same story symbolically of Harold and the Archbishop's high and powerful positions on Earth and in their country.

The Archbishop here representing the Church/religion is stationed and positioned in the figurative stance of Christ on the cross. 

Courtiers on Harold's left (facing) give military allegiance with the sword, while courtiers on the right (facing) with hands up and bowing stance show awe and deference.

No doubt the Tapestry is filled with such symbolism and beauty.

This is a close up of the needlework.  See the layering of the stitches, meant not only to give dimension to the piece, I suspect, but to make it visible from every corner of the Cathedral and to make it last throughout the ages.

What a tribute was allowed the needlewomen that they were able to stitch their names into the sections they worked on!

From the perspective of an embroiderer, this is painstaking and beautiful work that has stood the test of time.

From the point of view of one who spent time working as an intern in Textile Conservation

at The Boston Museum of Fine Arts,

linen is the oldest fabric that has survived even from as far back as Egyptian times.  So it's no wonder this linen is so well preserved.  It is a testament to the dim light, or lack of strong light exposure and heat that the threads

have remained in tact as well as they have.

And, of course, The Royal School of Needlework has worked on preservation of the Tapestry in recent years, as I'm sure others have in ages past.

Some more history on The Tapestry:

The Tapestry was conceived by a designer who would have worked with the patron together with one or more others who related the story as it was to be told. The design would have to be laid out in cartoon form, to scale, with the borders and inscription fitted in. It was a monumental task. It has been calculated that there are 626 human figures, 190 horses or mules, 35 hounds or dogs, 506 other various animals, 37 ships, 33 buildings and 37 trees or groups of trees. This suggests that more than one artist was involved. The wool would have to be dyed in large amounts so as to match throughout, and spun ready for use. Frames were needed, since each scene would require the workers to have their hands free for the laid and couched work used in the Tapestry. Copper alloy needles were probably employed.
Eight strips of linen appear to have been used, each perhaps being given to a different workshop. The strips would presumably be stitched together when completed. There are five main colours, terracotta red, blue-green, sage-green, buff and blue. Less frequently used are dark green, yellow, and dark blue (almost black). In laid and couched work the threads are laid in a tight mass over a given area, such as a figure. A second layer of threads (usually the same colour)is laid at right angles over this, the threads slightly spaced apart, perhaps 1/8 in. These are couched down with the same thread that holds them. The outline of the contours is worked in stem or outline stitch, which is also used for thin lines such as lettering, border lines, some scroll-work, spears, hands, faces, and many fillings such as the mail armour (conventionally shown as huge roundels rather than tiny interlinked rings). The fact that hair and horses, etc. are not always in naturalistic colours simply reflects the few colours used.

For more information and pictures of The Bayeux Tapestry go to:
The Bayeux Tapestry~Wikipedia

Thanks for coming by to see me again!  I hope you enjoyed delving into this story with me further, and into the actual history of the Tapestry.

I want also to send out a very special thank you to Ms Bower for her book.

Deborah/TheBookishDame

"The Needle In The Blood" by Sarah Bower~Bayeux Tapestry & Passion!

Hearken all art historians, needlewomen and readers of historical fiction:  this is an expansive, comprehensive, beautifully conceived novel that will make you want to hold it close to your heart long after you read the last lines.  The Bayeux Tapestry comes to life!  The fine art of needlework and honor due to the craft is inspiring.  Passions of war, religion, and romance leaps from these pages.  The lovers entwined and inhibited by the history of the Normans and Saxons will capture your imagination.

"The Needle in the Blood" is a novel for your personal bookshelf.  It's a keeper.

Summary:

His lust for power gave him everything. But it might cost him the love of his life.

The Bishop hired her for a simple job: embroider a tapestry. It is an enormous work, a cloth trophy of the conquest of England. But her skill with a needle and thread is legendary. It would be uncomplicated.

She plans to kill him as soon as she gets the chance. He and his brother, William the Conqueror, murdered her King and destroyed her world. Revenge, pure and clean. It would be simple.

But neither planned to fall desperately in love. As the two become hopelessly entangled, friends become enemies, enemies become lovers, and nothing in life—or the tapestry—is what it seems. An unlikely love story born of passion and intensity, crafted by critically acclaimed historical novelist Sarah Bower,The Needle in the Blood is a "story of love, war, and the tangled truth of England's birth."


Reviews of Ms Bower's Other Books:

Praise for Sarah Bower's Sins of the House of Borgia

"Sizzling."
—USA Today

"The sheer grandeur of the papal and Ferrara courts and the spectacle of the Borgia and Ferrara siblings' rivalries and revenges form a glittering take on one of the most notorious families of the Italian Renaissance."
—Publisher's Weekly

"Bower brilliantly merges history with politics and convincing characters to draw readers into a lush and colorful tapestry of Renaissance life...This powerful piece of fiction ranks with some of the finest of the genre."
—RT Book Reviews

Excerpt from The Needle in The Blood :

Odo himself fights beside his brothers, as he has been taught, with the club that is the weapon of priests, having no cutting edge. He stands in his stirrups to make best use of his height and lays about him, twisting his upper body this way and that, throwing its weight behind the blows. He is aware of nothing but the working of his body, the linkage of muscles from groin to waist to shoulders and arms, the flexing of joints in wrists and elbows, sweat running between his shoulder blades, the flow of the horse between his thighs. He splits skulls, cracks open breastbones, splinters vertebrae. A fragment of memory comes to him later, a strange and shaming impression that he was thinking, not of the lives of the men he killed and maimed, nor even of his own life, but of Tacitus' Agricola: "...atque ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant."

He is everywhere in the battle, yet he is off the field, changing horses behind the lines, when news reaches him of the death of Godwinson.

"Shot in the eye, my lord," says the page with relish, eyes shining in his grubby face. What is he? Ten, eleven maybe? Shortly to become a squire, dying to be a knight.

"In the eye, eh?" Good, fitting, though surprising it should be fatal. Blinding is how poachers are punished. Odo winks at the boy. "Thank you for your news, boy. Go safely. No, wait." He wants to give the boy something, out of gratitude for his good tidings. He feels he has not shown sufficient elation. The fact is, he is worn out. All he feels is relief, and a desire to sleep.

"My lord," says the boy. Odo fishes inside his hauberk and unclasps the brooch fastening the neck of his shirt. It is silver and amethyst, Celtic workmanship. He hands it to the boy, noting how warm it is to the touch. The boy beams as he takes the bishop's gift, a little too quickly perhaps, afraid that it might be withdrawn.

"For your pains, boy. Now off you go with your news." The boy runs off, grinning, and is soon lost to view among the tents.

Odo mounts, takes helmet and shield from his squire and a mouthful of gritty water from the skin the young man offers him, and rides off westward at an easy canter. It is almost sunset, and the dead cast long shadows on the trampled ground. The last residue of fighting has moved away from the Norman lines to the far side of the ridge so the shouting, the clash of arms, are muffled by distance. Crows flap lazily into the air as he passes. Camp fires are beginning to flare, their glow competing with the bloody remains of the sun pushing between the horizon and the canopy of cloud stretched above it. The homely scent of woodsmoke overlays the stench of carrion.

It's over, he thinks. We've won. William and Robert and I have won. I've won. I've won. He tries to savour the moment, but his mind runs on. This is only the beginning. There will be so much to be done. Roads must be laid, fortifications built. There must be churches and abbeys, laws and inventories. Forests must be cleared and wildernesses claimed. The might of Christ will drive out wood sprites and water nymphs; His light will shine in the darkness. There will be order. Today they have dug a foundation only.

And now he is thinking of home, of his palace in Bayeux, of the plans for his great new cathedral of Notre Dame spread on the table in his dark, empty hall, weighted down with an assortment of plates and goblets, and a mottled pink stone Adeliza found on the seashore, years ago. Now he will be able to complete it, once William has kept his promises.

He finds William, together with Robert and several other lords, close to the tree where Godwinson had raised his standard at the beginning of the day. How long ago? Six, seven hours at least, to judge by the sun. Feels like more, feels like less. The men are staring at the ground, contemplating something. A corpse, naked, recently mutilated. Only now does he notice the shockingly intimate, meaty smell of butchered men. His gorge rises as he approaches. Sweat breaks on his top lip, and saliva floods his mouth. He removes his helmet, pushes back the hood beneath it, and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, noting he needs a shave, hoping he isn't going to throw up.

"Shot in the eye, I was told," he says, drawing rein. His horse, unnerved by the stench, tosses its head and dances beneath him. He pulls its ears and talks nonsense to it until it settles.

"Might have been. We haven't found the head yet," says William.

"How do we know it's him, then?"

"She says it is." William nods toward the tree. Now he notices the women standing in the shade of its gnarled branches. There are four of them, Saxons, two ladies of high rank from their dress, and two others he supposes to be ladies in waiting.

"She?"

"Godwinson's whore. The young one. You know her, don't you? The other's his mother for God's sake."

Odo gives a grim laugh. "How does she know? The part she's most familiar with is missing, as far as I can see."

William shakes his head. "Marks on the body known only to her, she says. How would I know? But that's his standard lying beside him. That'll do for me. The women want him for burial."

"Will you let them?"

"No."

Particulars:

Published by:  Sourcebooks

Pages:  544

Genre:  Historical Fiction

Author:  Sarah Bower
Website:  http://www.snowbooks.com/sarahbower/index.html

About Ms Bower:

In her own words~

Writer, journalist and teacher of creative writing. My specialism is historical fiction. My novel, 'The Needle in the Blood' is about the making of the Bayeux Tapestry, and I am currently working on a second which deals with the fate of the Jews expelled from Spain in 1492. I also edit the Historical Novels Review, a quarterly publication of the Historical Novel Society.

The Dame's Review :

In my other life, I'm a needlewoman.  I love fine needlework, and have been embroidering, cross stitching and needlepointing alone and in Guilds for over 30 years.  It's through needlework that I've had some of the most satisfying times of my life and made some of my most cherished friends.  I know the intimacy and the terrors of handwork.  I know the perils of making a mistake...blotting a piece of linen that's been so precious and so long stitched upon.  Oh my goodness...I know the feeling of fine wool and needles, and the beauty of hand-dyed linen, silk and threads.  And, I know the stories that tapestries tell.  I know they tell more than the outward eye, or the untrained eye can tell.  They hold secrets known only to the needle worker or those who have been intimately involved in the making of the tapestry...those who conceived of the design, created the pattern for the design, and those who worked the design itself.  I know a misstep can cause a change in the intended design, or an extra stitch can cause a design to say or mean something else entirely.  Such is the essence of "The Needle in the Blood."

This is a novel that can't fail to intrigue you.  I picked this one because I had an idea it had to do with stitching, but I had no idea it would be so engrossing.  Sarah Bower is a gifted writer who has painstakingly rendered the warring's of a people, a Prince, a woman and man, religious life vs common life; and a tapestry of other things, into this large and wonderful book.  It is a long book with over 500 pages.  That's a show-stopper for many readers, but it never seemed that long a journey for me.

Major characters such as: 1) Gytha, a maid-in-waiting in the fallen King Harold the Saxon's household, who becomes a central needlewoman working on the Bayeux Tapestry and the love interest of 2) Odo, the Earl and priest/brother of King William the Conqueror. Odo was the originator of 3) the Bayeux Tapestry, a character in and of itself.  4)  Sister Jean/Agatha, the sister of King Willam and Earl Odo...nun, a woman of secret desires, artist who drew the scenes for the Tapestry that Odo described to her, 5)  the needlewomen who worked on the Tapestry... and so many others.

Absolutely fascinating stories interwoven amidst the history of the building of England during the 9th century.  I loved all the details about the making of the Bayeux Tapestry, of course, but that wasn't the primary focus of the book.  It was well balanced with the romance, actually, the very hot and exotic romance between Gytha and Odo; conflicted and inhibited sex and love is always so much better!  And, the stories of all the figures involved in the making of the new society, the church, buildings and needlework were captivating.  I was really drawn in by this book and found it difficult to stop thinking about even when I had to stop reading it to go on to other things and other reviews.

It was fortunate for me that I received a netgalley copy of "The Needle in the Blood," but I will tell you frankly that I'm buying my own hard cover copy this week.  I want to reread it at a more leisurely pace.  I want to keep a copy in my own library.  I really loved this book.

Having said all that, I need to evaluate it also on the basis of whether it's a book for a general reader.  I'd remark that it isn't.  Those who have a love of historical fiction at its finest, a love of needlework, a love of big books with lush stories such as Ken Follet's "The Pillars of the Earth," will love this book!

5 stars

Thank you for spending time with me today.  I know you're busy and you have other places you need to be....

Deborah/TheBookishDame