The Last Runaway

By: Tracy Chevalier

Narrated by: Kate Reading

Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times best-selling author of Girl With a Pearl Earring and At the Edge of the Orchard, 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.

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.

©2013 Tracy Chevalier (P)2013 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“A rich, well-researched novel - it’s the story of one young woman becoming an American.” (NPR, All Things Considered)

“Well-told and engrossing.... With compelling characters and swift pacing, The Last Runaway adds a worthy new chapter to a story that has consumed generations.” (USA Today)

“Irresistible.” (O, The Oprah Magazine)

Easy, enjoyable listen (with some flaws)

I did truly enjoy this book, though I did occasionally find the narration a bit annoying (unexpected pauses, shifting/inconsistent accents, male voices not as realistic and an uplift at the ends of declaratory sentences) and there were a couple of plot points that seemed out of character for Honor.

That being said, as a quilter and armchair historian of American slavery I found the subject matter, characters and overall storytelling engrossing and I am sure I will listen to it again. It is a quick listen and a very welcome escape on my commute. I especially enjoyed the quilting bits, which seemed very natural/appropriate to the plot and were accurately rendered (a huge pet peeve of mine is supposedly crafty fiction that is hardly crafty at all or just pasted on). If you like quilts or quilting, I think you will appreciate this book.

Though Honor is the main character, she is supported by two great characters in particular: Belle and Mrs. Reed, both of whom give dimension to the story and a bit of a reality check to Honor when required.

Just okay

What would have made The Last Runaway better?

This one is quite boring in my opinion. It's not stirring any kind of emotion in me, it's just something to listen too, and compared to some of the other slave type stories it's just not very good.

What didn’t you like about Kate Reading’s performance?

Some what computer like

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Last Runaway?

The long scene about quilting

Really great story!

The story of Honor Bright was really interesting and intriguing. The narration was good but at times a bit robotic and monotone. But if you focus on the story and not so much the narrator it is worth listening to.

Wonderful story

This was a fascinating story which wove together a young Quaker woman's experience in America in the early 1850s, the underground railroad and the art of quilting.

I do not like this narrator very much but the story was good enough to overcome that.

Engaging

I liked the first third of this story better, before the author felt she needed to include a romantic conflict against the historical backdrop of the Underground Railroad. Apart from having the characters be members of the Quakers / Friends religion, the people in the story were rather two-dimensional stereotypes. Only Belle, a non-Quaker, was vivid and interesting. Quilts and quilting are a part of the story, and that was interesting. Overall, good but not outstanding.

Easy listening, no great depth

I like a good historical fiction novel, and this one was an enjoyable listen. However, it was a bit thin at times. I also found the way in which race was dealt with in the novel a little problematic. Despite Chevalier's (sometimes awkward) attempts to give black characters agency, we were still left with a novel about white heroes in relation to slavery. Tracy Chevalier really was trying hard to do something a little more complex I think, but it just doesn't come out right. Sometimes listening to the discussions of race I felt uncomfortable.

Great read

chevalier's writing is so precise, so clear. I hated to see the book end.

New subject, new setting for Chevalier

I've read (and loved) a few of Tracy Chevalier's books, and this was the first one I've read (or listened to) that is set outside Europe. The story is told from the heroine's point of view, which is similar to other Chevalier books. A lot of the action of the story is presented through letters, which have the effect of advancing the story line rapidly, but which (for me) distanced me from the story. As a result, I never developed as much empathy as I wanted to for the heroine.
Ms. Chevalier's choice of setting, in southwestern Ohio, near the town of Wilberforce, was somewhat odd from my point of view. Since the college was founded for African American students by the African Methodist Episcopal Church and was located in a racially mixed community, I found it odd that there was only one continuing black character in the story. It seemed to me that Ms. Chevalier missed the opportunity to take advantage of the setting she selected. Also, having read a lot about the underground railroad and the period in which the Fugitive Slave Act was passed, I found it unlikely that so many runaway slaves were seen during daylight, even in Ohio. The story is similar to The Runaway Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini, down to its emphasis on quilts. Overall, I was somewhat disappointed by the book.

A different view of slavery in US

There were people in America that did not support slavery. This story shares the view of people who helped slaves escape thru the underground railroad. A tender story of wanting a new live with an excellent narrator.

Another delightful Chevalier Read

Loved the characters and their Underground RR saga. I learned a lot. My only complaint is how the performer says plait as in plaited hair or plait your hair. It does NOT rhyme with plate!