- Hardcover: 409 pages
- Publisher: St Martins Pr (March 1995)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0312117930
- ISBN-13: 978-0312117931
- Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 626 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,778,523 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Slavery is the theme of this fine effort by the author of Strange Are the Ways?slavery actual, slavery to convention and slavery to prejudice. Free-spirited Mattie Henderson is becoming resigned to spinsterhood when she is courted, wed and whisked from Bath to the antebellum South by dashing Johnny Sherwood. Initially happy, though horrified by the institution of slavery that sustains the Sherwood family's plantation, Mattie soon is shattered by the revelation of Johnny's guilty secret, his enduring love for his childhood sweetheart. Another secret also comes to light: the paternity of the slave Joshua, who is Johnny's half-brother. Mattie eventually becomes the mainstay of the family as its graceful world is shattered by the Civil War and the deaths that claim the male Sherwoods. Joshua becomes her lover, but he too dies in battle. Mattie returns to England with her own secret?Harry, Joshua's child. When Harry is 18 she tells him of his "tainted" heritage. He goes to Egypt with the British army, where he meets a woman as unconventional as his own mother and must come to terms with his identity. Crane's sound characterization and apt use of historical detail bear comparison to the work of Jane Aiken Hodge. Her tale sweeps readers along with a nice blend of drama and social history.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
The settings for Crane's historical novel change from England to America to Egypt, interweaving the issue of abolitionism within the tragic events that befall a family. Mattie Henderson, believed by most to be destined for spinsterhood, is the marvel of Bath when she meets and marries a handsome gentleman from the American South. Newly married and traveling with him to Georgia, she broods about reconciling her love for her husband with the slavery that supports his family plantation. The Civil War destroys her newfound family through battlefield deaths, political disagreements, and the shooting of her lover (her husband's half-brother). Years later, her son, enlightened about his true parentage, first joins the French foreign legion and then the British armed forces and eventually confronts the beginning loop of the slave trade in the desert. Crane is gifted at tying political and historical strands together into an unusually gripping family saga with a sense of purpose. Denise Perry Donavin
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)
2.0 out of 5 stars
A poor choice in the historical fiction genre., Feb 11 1999
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Freedom's Banner (Hardcover)
"Freedom's Banner," by Ms. Crane, is not a book that I would recommend to anyone. While it is not necessarily a bad book, the plot is cliche and depressing. Ms. Crane also has little style in her writing. In addition, if you have considered this book solely due to its time period, think again. While this book could be considered a historical fiction novel, the last 100-or-so pages take place in Egypt, and have to do with Mattie's son (that part just happens to be rather boring, for reference). The book also has a moderate amount of sex in it, and while that is not a bad thing, the subject is not approached in a very graceful manner and is mentioned one time too many, enough times so that it verges on poor taste. I have not given this book a one-star rating because it does have its good qualities. For instance, Mattie, as the main character, has a unique point of view, even if the situation she is in itself is cliche. Ms. Crane is also realistic in her portrayal of life in the South during the American Civil War, and she works the historical events in almost seamlessly.
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