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Loading... Bound: A Novel (edition 2009)by Sally Gunning
Work InformationBound by Sally Gunning
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. I didn't read the first book but this sequel was enjoyable as a stand-alone. I actually liked the first half of the book better than the second. It was an interesting look at a subject I didn't know much about, white slavery in the 1700's. ( ) The second in the Satucket series has as its focus Alice, a young Londoner who is bound over to indentured servitude by her father when the rest of her family dies during a disastrous transatlantic voyage. At first she is well treated and even beloved by her new family, but circumstances cause her to flee when she is only 15. Those who are so bound and escape are fugitives, and if caught, years are added to their tenure. Alice again takes to the sea and ends up in Satucket with the widow Berry (the hero of the first novel in the series, The Widow's War). The framework is pre-Revolutionary times, and the ties between Alice, the widow, and lawyer Freeman are taut and fraught. There are two trials and much insight into the immature mind of Alice, and how her troubling decisions make her life worse, in which she's not too different from a modern day teenage girl. Again, there's a very strong feminist viewpoint which was surely not prevalent in the Colonies at the time. Another substantial read, highly recommended. As a child, Alice boards a ship with her family to travel from London to America. Her mother and her siblings die on board ship and, upon arrival in America, her father indentures her out for 11 years. Her master is a kind man and she grows up almost as a family member, but she is passed on to his son-in-law when his daughter marries. Now her troubles begin: he abuses her and she runs away. Her story now intersects with characters from the author's earlier novel The Widow's War. The author is concerned with the condition of women in 18th century America. The previous book dealt with the situation of a widow and now a bound woman. Her women are strong enough to stand up against the roles expected of them, in spite of difficulties. There is plenty of information about 19th century America as well as great characters and a compelling story. no reviews | add a review
Belongs to SeriesSatucket (book 2) Distinctions
Alice Cole spent her first seven years living in two smoky, crowded rooms in London with her family. But a new home and a better life waited in the colonies, or so her father promised--a bright dream that turned to ashes when her brothers and mother took ill and died during the arduous voyage. Arriving in colonial New England unable to meet the added expenses incurred by their misfortunes at sea, her father bound Alice into servitude to pay his debts. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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