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The Last Runaway

by Tracy Chevalier (Goodreads Author)

3.78 of 5 stars 3.78 · rating details · 4,313 ratings · 1,012 reviews

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...more

Hardcover, 320 pages

Published January 8th 2013 by E.P. Dutton (first published 1st 2013)

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Feb 13, 2013 Elizabeth rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Oh, goodreads. Why does thee not allow for a half star rating? If thy did, I would give this book a solid 2.5 star rating. For the cover-art, I would give thy a 5 star rating. But I digress.

Tracy Chevalier's latest book examines the Quakers' role in the Underground Railroad during the mid-1800s. We see this time period through the eyes of one Honor Bright, a recent emigrate from England. Honor is a twenty year old who (like most twenty somethings) finds it is one thing to profess moral ideals a...more

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Feb 03, 2013 Rose Mary Achey rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Last Runaway is the story of Honor Bright, a young Quaker woman who emigrates from England in the mid 1800’s. Honor decides to accompany her sister to America after being jilted at the altar.

Honor’s sister is to meet and marry her fiancé in Ohio. Unfortunately, the sister does not survive the journey. Honor continues on to Ohio and after an awkward period living with her sister’s finance she marries another Quaker farmer from their small community.

Oberlin, Ohio is a major station on the Un...more

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Feb 23, 2013 Judy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, usa, 2013-reads

This is the story of Englishwoman Honor Bright who joins her to-be-wed sister, Grace, to voyage across the ocean and settle in Ohio. Grace dies from yellow fever on the journey from New York to Ohio leaving Honor, unexpected with Grace's intended as well as his newly widowed sister-in-law. The town of Faithwell, Ohio is a peaceful and unwelcoming Quaker town. The Quaker leaders are uncomfortable with Adam Cox (Grace's fiancee) living with two single women so encourage him to marry Abigail. Honor...more

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Mar 22, 2013 Beth Davis rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a book that improves with each chapter. At first I was irritated by the letters that wrap up each chapter, but even that device worked better as the novel unfolded. Donovan may be the most unbelievable character, and some stereotypes are in evidence (the difficult mother-in-law and the crusty older woman with a heart of gold), but the main character comes to life, and her conflicts are what propel the novel. Two thoughts I loved: "Look for the measure of light ... For it is there, as it...more

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May 16, 2013 Julia rated it 4 of 5 stars

I am a big fan of Tracy Chevalier and have read all of her books (I think).

This story takes place in rural Ohio, in the 1800's, prior to the civil war in the States. It looks at the role and attitudes of the Quaker community towards the injustice of slavery and the Quakers part in the Underground Railroad.

The heroine, Honor Bright has emmigrated from England to Ohio and marries a fellow Quaker man. Her beliefs and convictions are put to the test when she has the opportunity to assist runaway sla...more

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Feb 20, 2013 JoAnne Pulcino rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-fiction, book-club-selection, historical-fiction, large-print

LAST RUNAWAY
Tracy Chevalier

This wonderful novel begins in 1850 when a modest English Quaker named Honor Bright leaves England fleeing personal problems. On the very difficult journey she is forced by tragedy to rely on strangers in this rugged, harsh and unfamiliar land.

Nineteenth century America is scarred by the injustice of slavery, and Honor's principles are sorely tested by a community supposedly commited to human equality. Drawn into the Underground Railroad she encounters two commited, st...more

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Feb 28, 2013 Correen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Honor, a Quaker woman from England and living in Ohio in the pre-Civil War decade, must confront her personal beliefs and responsibilities concerning slavery. The result is an interesting portrayal of personal dilemmas, marriage, and commitment. I enjoyed the book.

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Apr 14, 2013 Julie Lees rated it 4 of 5 stars

Tracy Chevalier’s latest novel, ‘The Last Runaway’, details the journey of Honor Bright who leaves her close-knit Quaker roots, in Bridport, for the vast open plains of Ohio, in the United States.

Set in the 1850s Honor is shunned by her betrothed for another and, makes the decision to travel with her sister, Grace, who has accepted a proposal of marriage and the promise of a new life.

By the time her tortuous sea voyage is over she realises there is no going back and, following a succession of tr...more

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May 20, 2013 Sandra Danby rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: literature

Tracy Chevalier is so skilled at getting under the skin of the protagonist in a specific period whether it's a 19th century fossil collector or a 15th century Belgian weaver, you always believe her.
Honor Bright is a real person from page 1 of ‘The Last Runaway’ and you are rooting for her. The book tackles a difficult subject: the rights and wrongs of helping escaping slaves, and the moral issue this poses for Ohio’s Quakers. Honor struggles to understand this sometimes frightening new country...more

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May 15, 2013 Lauren Chater rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is my third Tracy Chevalier book.

I quite easily fell into the story and it was one of those books that was a pleasure to pick up at any time. I thought it was a quiet, understated book which surprisingly hooked me in from about the second chapter - the scene where she builds up suspense as the slave-hunter is bearing down on them and Honor does not know what is happening... that scene gave me shivers!

I could understand and empathise with Honor, she was this kind of wide-eyed young adult wh...more

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May 09, 2013 Karyn Dawnson added it

At first i was thinking - is this gone be about quilting? i really wasn't about quilting, the quilts are sighnificant be cause they are given a value. I even tried to make them more significant - i wanted Mrs reed's quilt to be a underground railroad map or the maybe her garden gave underground clues, but this was not to be. i most enjoy books that paint a vivid picture here i am taken away to another place. The conparisons between England and America seemed to stick with me and made me ponder t...more

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Apr 29, 2013 Carla Hostetter rated it 4 of 5 stars

The pace of this story is sedate like the Quacker woman who tells the tale in first person and in her letters home to England. Traveling to Ohio with her sister who intends to wed there, Honor Bright, jilted by her own fiance, finds herself alone in a strange country when her sister dies on the road. She forms an "irregular" household with her sister's former fiance and his widowed sister-in-law. Informed she must marry, Honor accepts her first offer from Jack Haymaker, part of the Quacker comm...more

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Apr 29, 2013 Anthony Aidan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Tracy Chevalier is fast establishing herself as a modern day classical author. This book blossomed out as she deftly unravelled the plot. There is a delightful tension between the Quaker doctrine, slavery and the past from which Honor Bright flees. The characters are deftly drawn in pastel colours. Everything Chevalier does is understated and all the more powerful for it. The tension created between Honor Bright and Donovan, the slave bounty hunter, brother to her friend Belle and dangerous in e...more

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Apr 27, 2013 Susan Emmet rated it 3 of 5 stars

I so liked "Girl With A Pearl Earring" and I liked "The Last Runaway." Would recommend both for YAL and adult lists.
Honor Bright (such a great name!) emigrates to the US with her sister after Honor is dumped by her fiance and sister Grace heads out to marry her intended in Ohio. Grace dies; Honor is left alone to fend for herself. Her English Quaker "friends" prove to be cold fish, lacking the Quaker inner light.
Suffice it to say that she makes a marriage, has a baby, leaves her husband and his...more

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Apr 26, 2013 Christine rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013-reads

Honor Bright comes to America to accompany her sister to her wedding. Although her own ocean crossing is horrific in terms of seasickness, it is her sister who succumbs to illness and does not make it to their final destination. Being a young, sheltered Quaker woman in 1850’s Ohio Honor finds there is no way to make a life for herself except to marry. And that is exactly what she does, to an honorable and hardworking dairy farmer. A chance encounter with a runaway slave introduces Honor the Unde...more

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Mar 31, 2013 Brian rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When Dorsetshire Quaker Honor Bright is jilted, she emigrates to America along with her sister Mary, who is intending to marry an established emigré from the same community now running a drapery in a small town in Ohio. But Mary dies of Yellow Fever on the journey and Honor finds herself a stranger in a strange land, entirely dependent upon the charity of her dead sister's fiancé.

A hasty marriage to local farmer Jack Haymaker seems to be the answer but Jack is part of an intimidating family, at...more

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Mar 29, 2013 Jenni Ogden rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

Tracy Chevalier's new book ideas always surprise and delight. In her latest, Honor Bright, a young Quaker woman, travels from England to America in 1850 with her sister, who is to marry a man who previously emigrated and now lives in Ohio. Shortly after they arrive her sister dies and she is marooned there, with no hope of ever returning to England because of the horrific seasickness she suffered on the entire ship journey out. As she struggles to find a place with the Quakers of this new world,...more

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Mar 29, 2013 Steven Langdon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Tracy Chevalier has written a number of novels, some of them especially compelling as historical imaginings of the lives of unsung women associated with notable artistic or scientific achievements. I have been especially impressed by Chevalier's book on Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, and by the recent novel, "Remarkable Creatures," about several nineteenth-century women engaged in archaeological work.

"The Last Runaway" is another book with a similar orientation, featuring a well-written, c...more Tracy Chevalier has written a number of novels, some of them especially compelling as historical imaginings of the lives of unsung women associated with notable artistic or scientific achievements. I have been especially impressed by Chevalier's book on Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, and by the recent novel, "Remarkable Creatures," about several nineteenth-century women engaged in archaeological work.

"The Last Runaway" is another book with a similar orientation, featuring a well-written, carefully researched probe of the historical world of a young nineteenth-century Quaker woman, Honor Bright, who finds herself unexpectedly on her own in frontier-era Ohio during the pre-Civil War period when escaped slaves from the southern US are seeking to follow the Underground Railway to Canada. The artistic connection this time is somewhat less clear, to the work of quilt-making and hat-making that pioneer women of the time undertook.

The backdrop that Chevalier portrays of Quaker society and of the challenges of developing new farms and villages in the wilderness is richly nuanced and credible -- especially in contrast to Honor's traditional landscape of rural England from which she comes. The personal difficulties that Honor must confront in her new context are also well-presented and shape a strong plot that drives this book forward.

What I found less satisfactory, and surprising given Chevalier's skills in several of her other novels, is the limited development of some of the other characters in this book. Two key figures in the plot, Honor's eventual husband, Jack Haymaker, and his mother, Judith, are not deeply analyzed in the book -- and that seems to me a gap. And most important, for a book that focuses on slavery to a significant extent, I found the arms-length treatment of black characters in the novel to be somewhat problematic.

Overall, though, this novel underlines for me the effectiveness and appeal of Chevalier's fiction. The writing is excellent, the historical setting well presented and the insights on quilt-making interesting. "The Last Runaway" brings alive the tragedy of black slavery in a powerful way. The novel also highlights the ambiguities in the religious practice of the time that interacted in race relations. The result is an insightful and reflective book.

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Mar 29, 2013 Katy rated it 4 of 5 stars

First a disclaimer - I won a free copy in a giveaway by the publishers, hosted on one of the blogs I read. So I got a very pretty brand new hardback book through the post. I started reading it after work yesterday and managed to finish it off this morning. This is the second book I've read by this author, and although I think I preferred her Remarkable Creatures, I'd certainly read more by her. Each of her books is historical fiction, but with a very different period and theme - she must spend a...more First a disclaimer - I won a free copy in a giveaway by the publishers, hosted on one of the blogs I read. So I got a very pretty brand new hardback book through the post. I started reading it after work yesterday and managed to finish it off this morning. This is the second book I've read by this author, and although I think I preferred her Remarkable Creatures, I'd certainly read more by her. Each of her books is historical fiction, but with a very different period and theme - she must spend a lot of time in research. This one is about Honor Bright, a young Quaker woman who sails from Bristol to America with her sister Grace, when Grace is emigrating to marry a man who went out from their home town a year or two earlier. Sadly, Grace dies just before they reach their destination and Honor has to make a new life for herself in Ohio amongst strangers. She struggles to fit in at first, but the two people who come closest to being her new friends are links in the 'Underground Railway' helping runaway slaves to escape. Honor finds herself involved, much to the displeasure of her new family. It's partly told through the letters she writes to her parents and her best friend back home. Honor is quite naive at first, but sympathetically drawn, and I enjoyed the parts with Belle, the hat maker who takes her under her wing. I also liked the descriptions of the different types of quilt sewing that the different communities did. The author learnt how to quilt as part of her research and puts a lot of detail in to those parts of the book. The ending wasn't what I expected it to be, because I thought it was signalling one particular turn and then it switched unexpectedly. That's not a criticism though. One thing which jarred for me was the name "Honor". I spent the whole book cringing inside every time I read it, because I was convinced an English Quaker girl born in the 1830s would have been called Honour instead. It's taken me ten minutes of online searching while writing this now to find out that apparently even in Britain the personal name was spelt without a u at the time! So it wasn't a mistake but it felt like one! That was a distraction for me, and I wish she'd either been named differently or there'd been an author's note at the start to clarify. I liked the book, and will certainly seek out more of her work, but must admit I wouldn't have felt I had to buy it in hardback as soon as it came out! I'd certainly recommend it, but just maybe not quite yet!(less)

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Mar 28, 2013 Patricia rated it 4 of 5 stars

If it were possible to do half stars, I'd give this 4 1/2 stars, not 5 because I never give 5 stars. I like the story, the writing, the characters. I particularly admire the descriptions of the quilts and wish I had the patience to make a quilt. I badly want to see this quilt.

What struck her about the quilt was the same thing she had noticed about the front garden. The placement of the colors seemed unplanned, and yet there was something pleasing about them. The gray brought out the clear beaut

...more

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Mar 27, 2013 Phoebe rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Deborah, Valerie, Cheryl

Shelves: adult, historical, quakers, underground-railroad, 1850

Honor Bright is a quiet, self-contained young English Quaker woman bruised by the unexpected betrayal of her fiance, Samuel, and she can't face the pity in her family's eyes. She decides to travel with her sister Grace to Ohio, where Grace is to marry Adam Cox, another Quaker who has emigrated. After a horrible passage, Honor is to face another terrible thing: her sister contracts yellow fever and dies within only a few days. Honor is thrown on the mercy of Adam, (and his newly widowed sister-in...more

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Mar 25, 2013 Joyce rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, historical, sense-of-place, women

An interesting, unsentimental look at a young woman caught up in history. Honor Bright in 1850s Ohio inadvertently becomes a link in the Underground RR. One would think this would be a good match with her Quaker beliefs, yet she finds herself criticized by her new family. (Long story; check description and other reviews for how she got to this place.) Provocative story of what happens when we try to put our beliefs into action, and the open ending suggests that we don't always change the world;...more

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Mar 17, 2013 Therese rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

Usually when a reader gives a book a 5 star rating, it's not so much that the book was flawless, but that it struck that particular reader's individual sweetspot. This book did that for me.

Now, on to why this book is incredible. It's the story of Quaker girl Honor Bright (ah that's such a great name) who leaves England in the 1850's, and through a series of mishaps and apathies winds up in Ohio, misplaced but accepted into a Quaker community.

This is what is special about this book. The twists a...more Usually when a reader gives a book a 5 star rating, it's not so much that the book was flawless, but that it struck that particular reader's individual sweetspot. This book did that for me.

Now, on to why this book is incredible. It's the story of Quaker girl Honor Bright (ah that's such a great name) who leaves England in the 1850's, and through a series of mishaps and apathies winds up in Ohio, misplaced but accepted into a Quaker community.

This is what is special about this book. The twists and turns don't so much come in the PLOT, they come in the CHARACTERS. Chevalier won't allow you stock good and evil characters(much). When a person is introduced you think, "Oh, they're gonna fall in love. Oh! She's bad. Oh! She's going to SAVE her!" And the outcome is never that easy. People have reasons for their weaknesses and hurtfulness. Bad people soften but never quite thaw. People that are supposed to be good don't pan out as any better than anyone else.

A shout out to Chevalier's highly tuned ability to make you feel trapped along with the main character. A character with no voice, no allies, and no way out of her circumstances. And people are out to get her. She did it well in Girl With Pearl Earring, and she does it with Honor Bright.

One of my favorite things in this book was how (SPOILER) she totally disregarded the almost REQUIRED standard romance plotting in favor of historical accuracy. You're a young Quaker in a tiny frontier town; you marry whatever other young quaker is available, love really doesn't play into it. Even if you're the heroine. Nor does she force her characters to fall in love after, or force one to become evil or saintly. She just leaves it to have a gentle, realistic flow.

And she also (SPOILER) really takes the piss out of people who think that because they have high thoughts and do small deeds of goodness, that somehow they're saviours to the oppressed. There is a point where a character says to our heroine, exasperated, "You think you're indispensible to the Underground Railroad? Are YOU going to free every slave in the south? We're grateful for your help but we managed before you and will manage after." Chevalier lets Honor go in the end, doesn't force her to change history or choose selflessly. She lets her be real.

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Mar 09, 2013 Amy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Lovely book. I didn't like it as much as The Girl with the Pearl Earring, but it is much better than The Lady and the Unicorn. In The Last Runaway, Chevalier takes on 19th century America and the topic of slavery. I found her focus on runaway slaves in Ohio refreshing rather than the usual Southern setting in similar novels. A young, Quaker girl from England, Honor Bright, finds herself unexpectedly dropped into a new land and culture without friend or family. I found Honor an interesting charac...more

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Feb 25, 2013 Barbara rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this story of Honor Bright - great name! The letters written home painted a picture of the isolation Honor felt in her spirit. When questioned about what she liked and her answer said she found lightning bugs “cheerful and welcoming” it was a clear word picture of her solitude that went beyond the silent times at church.
I appreciated the description of Honor’s realization of the background of the cotton fabric that she used. “She had always loved fabric, admiring the weaves and...more I really enjoyed this story of Honor Bright - great name! The letters written home painted a picture of the isolation Honor felt in her spirit. When questioned about what she liked and her answer said she found lightning bugs “cheerful and welcoming” it was a clear word picture of her solitude that went beyond the silent times at church.
I appreciated the description of Honor’s realization of the background of the cotton fabric that she used. “She had always loved fabric, admiring the weaves and patterns and textures, imagining what she could make…Now she understood that much of it was not innocent, unsullied material, but the result of a compromised world.” The former slave (Mrs. Reed) remarks about, “Abolitionists got lots o’ theories, but I’m livin’ with realities” was a powerful use of words.
Honor chose to follow her own conscience and that isolated her even more from most of the people surrounding her. She did what little she could. “Is it worse to have no principles, or principles you cannot then uphold?”
This book was not full of information about the underground railroad. I don’t believe that was the author’s purpose. It was rich with emotional responses in the lives of those who knew slavery to be wrong and made choices often based on practicality and not on principles.
I loved the author’s statement about “When an abstract principle becomes entangled in daily life, it lost its clarity and became compromised and weakened. …the Haymakers had demonstrated how easy it was to justify stepping back from principles and doing nothing. …She felt so confused by the gap between what she thought and what was expected of her that she could not speak. …Silence was a powerful tool… Perhaps now it would allow Honor to be heard.” I felt this turn of the story to be perfect in the way it was written.
I also enjoyed her comparisons of British and American buildings and America having a “flimsiness of community, a feeling that no one has been there long.” Honor desired the feeling of being settled and fitting into place. The ending was perfect. I will not give it away but I felt it tied together the story and resolved many of the problems.
I would like to give this book a five star. I have chosen to give it 4 stars only because I felt there was one short part of the story that was unnecessary and didn't fit. It was the part of the story that happened in the cornfield. The book had wonderful development of characters and perfect use of imagery. I enjoyed it and liked that it had an element of making me ponder if I live according to principles and convictions or just do what I see others doing? I like books that leave me thinking.
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Feb 25, 2013 J.T. Therrien rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed Tracy Chevalier's The Last Runaway. I've been a fan of her writing since I read Girl With Pearl Earring years ago.

In The Last Runaway, I got to learn about the Quaker faith and way of life, quilting, the Underground Railroad, and early America, four topics (among many, many others) which I knew practically nothing about.

The premise of the story: Honor Bright decides to accompany her sister Grace to America. Grace is to marry a Dorset Quaker immigrant and Honor is set to live wit...more

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Feb 23, 2013 Sharon Bakar rated it 4 of 5 stars

Tracy Chevalier, best known for The Girl with a Pearl Earring which became an international best-seller and a Hollywood film, sets the seventh of her historical novels in her native America. The Last Runaway, set in the 1850’s, takes a look at the country, pre-Civil War. It deals with the legacy of slavery, and in particular what came to be known as The Underground Railway, an escape route set up to help slaves make their way to Canada. The “railway” comprised of safe houses or “depots” where ru...more Tracy Chevalier, best known for The Girl with a Pearl Earring which became an international best-seller and a Hollywood film, sets the seventh of her historical novels in her native America. The Last Runaway, set in the 1850’s, takes a look at the country, pre-Civil War. It deals with the legacy of slavery, and in particular what came to be known as The Underground Railway, an escape route set up to help slaves make their way to Canada. The “railway” comprised of safe houses or “depots” where runaways could find shelter and food. Although, as Chevalier notes on her website, the numbers of slaves escaping this way was not great, the very fact that the “railway” existed at all must have threatened slave owners and appeared to undermine the whole economy.

After a broken engagement, Quaker Honor Bright decides to follow her sister who is leaving for America and a new life. Grace is betrothed to Adam Cox, who left Britain earlier to set up shop in a village in Ohio. The voyage across the Atlantic is so horrendous that Hope realizes that she would not be able to ever face it again to return to England.

Sadly, Grace does not make it to Ohio, but contracts yellow fever on the journey and dies. Honor is thus thrown onto the kindness of strangers. When she reaches Wellington in Ohio, she is taken in by the plain spoken milliner, Belle Mills, who becomes her only real friend. Honor wins her respect because of her skill with a needle, and Belle soon puts her to work helping to decorate hats and make bonnets.

Adam Cox comes to collect her a few days later. He is living with his recently widowed sister-in-law, the dour Abigail, and the living arrangements prove to be awkward. Honor realises that the only option open to her is to marry, and she accepts the proposal of Jack Haymaker, whose family own a thriving farm nearby.

Honor must learn to adapt to her new environment. Everything is different in her adopted country from the landscape with its large open fields and forbidding woods, and the weather with its extremes of summer heat and winter cold, to the monotonous corn-based diet. But the most difficult adjustment she must make is to fit in with the small-minded local community and the family into which she has married. Things only get worse as she becomes aware of the plight of runaway slaves passing through Ohio (which is a free state) on their way to Canada and their freedom.

Hope realises that Belle is involved in the “railway” early on in the novel, but she finds herself personally involved when a fugitive slave appears in the yard one day. Soon she is hiding food and directing slaves to the next town where they can find safety.

Even though Quakers are against slavery on principle, since they believe every human being carries the same light within them, her husband and his family forbid her from helping any more runaway slaves. The passage of the Fugitive Law means that there are dire penalties for harbouring them, something the Haymakers know only too well.

Honour is left in no doubt that her if she obeys her conscience she is imperiling those she lives amongst. Furthermore, she risks being ostracized from the Quaker community and losing all rights to her own child if she persists. Compounding the moral dilemma is the fact that Quakers are not supposed to tell lies, but Honor realises that sometimes lies, or at least evasions, are sometimes needed to prevent greater injustice. These dilemmas are at the heart of the story, and Honor realises that there just are no easy answers.

Complicating matters more are Honor’s feelings towards Donavan, Belle’s brother who is a bounty hunter looking for slaves. The sexual tension is palpable, and their scenes together are some of the most compelling in the book. It’s a pity that Jack Haymaker is so colourless in comparison.
In Honor Bright, Chevalier creates a heroine who grows and evolves to take charge of her own destiny. Ironically, she is as much a runaway in a metaphorical sense as the slaves that she helps.

The book is very thoroughly researched yet the historical background never weighs down the narrative. Indeed, The Last Runaway is a page-turning piece of fiction, and its great strength is in the very real sense of period and place that Chevalier creates, particularly in the domestic details. Particularly enjoyable are her descriptions of the traditional art of quilt making which serves as a motif throughout the book.
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Feb 16, 2013 Sheila rated it 4 of 5 stars

Honor Bright has moved to the US from England with her sister during the 1850's. Her sister was travelling to join her fiancée and persuaded Honor to travel with her. Honor agreed because her own fiancée met another woman in England and left his Quaker religion to be with her. Honors sister dies soon after arriving and Honor is alone in a new country without her sister's support. She stops in a small town in Ohio on her way to join Adam, her sister's fiancée. She spends some time with Belle, a w...more

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Feb 16, 2013 Gewizaz rated it 3 of 5 stars

main character, Honor, comes with sister to America. sister dies within a few weeks, before meeting her husband. So, the story begins with Honor having no place to live, no relatives, little money and Quaker belief nor has she met sister's hubby to be, just a letter of introduction. hat maker, Belle takes her in, assists in shop. very nieve to the underground black movement, but suspects belle is hiding them in her wood shed. Honor marries, finds she becomes sympathic to the blacks that come thr...more

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Feb 05, 2013 The Book Maven rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: historicalfiction

Simply put, this is one of the BEST historical novels I have ever read.

The plot: After being jilted by her fiance in England, Quaker woman Honor Bright decides to accompany her sister Grace to America and help Grace adjust to her upcoming marriage and impending life as a pioneer woman. But when tragedy befalls them, Honor finds herself alone in a strange country, dependent on the kindness of strangers and trying to learn the customs of 1850s Ohio--still a rough and wild place. Furthermore, she h...more

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About Tracy Chevalier

Born:
19 October 1962 in Washington, DC. Youngest of 3 children. Father was a photographer for The Washington Post.

Childhood:
Nerdy. Spent a lot of time lying on my bed reading. Favorite authors back then: Laura Ingalls Wilder, Madeleine L’Engle, Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Joan Aiken, Susan Cooper, Lloyd Alexander. Book I would have taken to a desert island: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery.

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Quotes from The Last Runaway

“I have a bed and enough to eat and kind people about me. God is still with me. For these things I am grateful and have no reason to complain” — 2 people liked it

“Perhaps thee will best understand what Abigail is like if I tell thee that when she quilts she prefers to stitch in the ditch, hiding her poor stitches in the seams between the blocks.” — 1 person liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15705011-the-last-runaway?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1349448072l/15705011.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15705011-the-last-runaway?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier[/url]

The Last Runaway

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