The Last Runaway
by Tracy Chevalier
Honor Bright, a modest English Quaker, 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, Honor is drawn into the clandestine activities of the Underground Railroad, a network helping runaway slaves escape to freedom, where she 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.
The Sewing Machine
by Natalie Fergie
It is 1911, and Jean is about to join the mass strike at the Singer factory. For her, nothing will be the same again. Decades later, in Edinburgh, Connie sews coded moments of her life into a notebook, as her mother did before her. More than a hundred years after his grandmother’s sewing machine was made, Fred discovers a treasure trove of documents. His family history is laid out before him in a patchwork of unfamiliar handwriting and colourful seams. He starts to unpick the secrets of four generations, one stitch at a time.
Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker
by Jennifer Chiaverini
In a life that spanned nearly a century and witnessed some of the most momentous events in American history, Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley was born a slave. A gifted seamstress, she earned her freedom by the skill of her needle, and won the friendship of First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln by her devotion.
A sweeping historical novel, Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker illuminates the extraordinary relationship the two women shared, beginning in the hallowed halls of the White House during the trials of the Civil War and enduring almost, but not quite, to the end of Mrs. Lincoln’s days.
![Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...](https://i0.wp.com/www.linkwithin.com/pixel.png?w=840)
I’ve read Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker; it’s excellent! Well written as well as well researched! Highly recommend!
I have also read “Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker”. I have read and recommend other books about Elizabeth Keckley – “Behind the Scenes”, and “Mrs Lincoln and Mrs. Keckley” They all are a great read!!