Bookish Thoughts: The Mapmaker's Children by Sarah McCoy

The old house on Apple Hill Lane shuddered against the weighty snow that burdened its pitch. 
~ Opening for The Mapmaker's Children

The Mapmaker's Children by Sarah McCoy
Crown, 2015

Fiction; 320 pgs

From the Publisher: 

When Sarah Brown, daughter of abolitionist John Brown, realizes that her artistic talents may be able to help save the lives of slaves fleeing north, she becomes one of the Underground Railroad’s leading mapmakers, taking her cues from the slave code quilts and hiding her maps within her paintings. She boldly embraces this calling after being told the shocking news that she can’t bear children, but as the country steers toward bloody civil war, Sarah faces difficult sacrifices that could put all she loves in peril.

Eden, a modern woman desperate to conceive a child with her husband, moves to an old house in the suburbs and discovers a porcelain head hidden in the root cellar—the remains of an Underground Railroad doll with an extraordinary past of secret messages, danger and deliverance. Ingeniously plotted to a riveting end, Sarah and Eden’s woven lives connect the past to the present, forcing each of them to define courage, family, love, and legacy in a new way.

I admit I was a little gun shy about reading The Mapmaker's Children given how much I loved and connected with The Baker's Daughter. I have been in the position before where I loved a book so much, only to be disappointed by the author's other work. Maybe it's too high expectations. I don't know. What I do know is that I'm not quite sure which book I liked more, The Mapmaker's Children or The Baker's Daughter. I can think of a couple of people at least who will be getting this book for their birthdays this year. 

When reading a dual time period novel, I often am more drawn to the historical story than I am the contemporary one. I am not sure exactly why that is, but it happens often enough that I almost consider it a given. In The Mapmaker's Children, I was pulled into both stories equally and I found myself feeling a little frustrated at having to leave one time period for the other--I was never quite ready to leave Eden's or Sarah's presence, depending on who I was with at the time. I say this as a compliment, really. I was invested in both characters' stories and wanted to continue on with each one.

It took me a little while to warm up to Eden even so. The more I got to know her and her situation, the more I began to understand her. I know what it is like to want to have a child--the pressures and stresses that can come with trying. The waiting and hoping. Followed by the disappointments. It consumes you, and it takes its toll on you. I eventually was able to have a child, but not everyone who wants to is as lucky. Eden wants so badly to have a child, has had miscarriages, and all the efforts she and her husband have tried have so far failed. She isn't sure who she is anymore; her relationship with her husband is strained. She's not sure she can salvage it. She is in a dark place emotionally. She feels angry, lost and disconnected--purposeless really. I felt those things along side her, and my heart soared as she began to come out of her depression to reconnect with others and rediscover herself.

There was a moment in the novel, during Eden's story, when I saw myself in Eden so clearly.  I have never been in her situation, not exactly, but there was something about that moment, something about her relationship with her husband that sparked something in me--an epiphany of sorts--about my own life. It was both a beautiful and a sad moment for me. As with The Baker's Daughter, it is as if Sarah McCoy was speaking directly to me. (How does she do it?!)

Sarah Brown, in her own time period, is quick to substitute her inability to have children with action, taking an active role in the abolitionist movement and helping with the Underground Railroad. She feels very strongly about ending slavery. She's resilient and strong, a very capable woman. She is ever practical minded, something I admired her for but also gave me cause to feel sorry for her. I wanted so much for her to find the happiness she deserved.

There's a lot I wish I could say about Sarah. I was awed by her character.  She truly was an extraordinary woman, both the fictional version McCoy has created and the real life woman. I don't want to spoil her story for you, however. 

McCoy doesn't skirt around the issue of how painful war can be. She captures well the tension in the year leading up to the Civil War and the devastation it caused, not only to the land, but to families and individuals as well. I admit to not remembering much about John Brown, Sarah's father, from my studies of the Civil War, but McCoy's book has inspired me to seek out more about Sarah and her father. I have always found myself more drawn to World War I and II, but I think I will delve more deeply into the Civil War--there are many stories worth reading and remembering.

I have always been interested in the Underground Railroad, but had never really thought much about the amount of detail and work that went into making it work--the maps, the people who made it possible, and those who had to go into hiding to make their way to freedom.  Such stories are inspiring, sad, and a core part of American history I hope we never forget and never experience again.

The minor characters in The Mapmaker's Children were no less compelling than the two protagonists. How I loved Jack, Eden's husband, and Freddy, Sarah's friend and confidant! I liked Alice and Siby, especially Siby's loyalty to the Hill family even when things became very dangerous for her in the South. I adored Cleo, a young girl hired to walk and feed Eden and Jack's dog, Cricket. She is a girl after my own heart--industrious and thoughtful. She loves a good mystery, just as I always have. And Cricket and Gypsy. They would make anyone's heart melt. Dogs often do.

There is so much I want to say about this book, and yet I find myself not sure how to put it into words. The author is such a good story teller. She has a gift for weaving together history with the present in such a way as to make them seem so different, and yet, by the end, you can't help but look back and see how everything, including the characters, were connected, and appreciate the book even more. I was touched by the characters and moved by their stories. I didn't want either of their stories to end.  Even now, days after finishing the book, I am still thinking about both Eden and Sarah.

Oh my goodness, how I loved this book with all the emotional ups and downs! My heart broke and my heart sang. I wish I could hug the characters and move to New Charlestown right now.

To learn more about Sarah McCoy and her books, please visit the author's website or her blog.

I hope you will check out what others had to say about The Mapmaker's Children on the TLC Book Tours route!

Many thanks to the TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to be a part of this book tour. Copy of book purchased by myself.

---

© 2015, Wendy Runyon of Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.