The Price of a Child
by Lorene Cary
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Description
In 1855, a Southern slave abandons her child to obtain freedom. She is Ginnie of Virginia who escapes while with her master in Philadelphia. The novel portrays her hiding from slave catchers, agonizing over the son she left behind, and reinventing herself as Mercer Grey to become a famous abolitionist.Tags
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Member Reviews
In my quest to read books about Philly, or by Philadelphia authors, or both, I picked this up at Hillside Books in Chestnut Hill. It comes highly recommended and was a One Book, One Philadelphia book some time in the past.
This book was chock full of information about Philadelphia "back in the day". Though the city (and perhaps the state) had enacted a law preventing slavery, some travelers brought their enslaved people to the city when they visited or passed through. If those enslaved persons chose to leave part company while in Philadelphia, they were free, though slave hunters etc could still track them down and take them back to their former lives. This story is about one such woman, who was travelling with her "master" to South show more America, along with two of her children. Her youngest son remained back in Virginia, a hostage to keep her from escaping. But escape she did, with the two other children, and settled in Philadelphia. The details of the city at that time fascinated me, though I was surprised there was really very little followup regarding the child left behind. show less
This book was chock full of information about Philadelphia "back in the day". Though the city (and perhaps the state) had enacted a law preventing slavery, some travelers brought their enslaved people to the city when they visited or passed through. If those enslaved persons chose to leave part company while in Philadelphia, they were free, though slave hunters etc could still track them down and take them back to their former lives. This story is about one such woman, who was travelling with her "master" to South show more America, along with two of her children. Her youngest son remained back in Virginia, a hostage to keep her from escaping. But escape she did, with the two other children, and settled in Philadelphia. The details of the city at that time fascinated me, though I was surprised there was really very little followup regarding the child left behind. show less
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Author Information
7+ Works 850 Members
Lorene Cary penned the highly acclaimed book, Black Ice, an autobiographical account of her years at St. Paul's Prep School in New Hampshire. Cary was among the first African American women to break into the predominantly white male establishment at the school. She believes that her primary role as an author is to "deliver a story that matters and show more tell it until it sings." In earlier years, Cary worked at TV Guide as an assistant editor, and as a writer for Newsweek. Cary now resides with her family in Philadelphia, where she is a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Price of a Child
- Original publication date
- 1995
- Important places
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Pennsylvania, USA
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 199
- Popularity
- 163,884
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.63)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 9
- ASINs
- 3
