Title: The Last Runaway
Author: Tracy Chevalier
Narrators: Kate Reading
Genre: General Fiction
Length: 9.75 Hours
Publisher: Recorded Books
Review: “Young Englishwoman Honor Bright, a Quaker, comes to America in 1850, settling in Ohio. Honor soon learns that most local Quakers abhor slavery, but fear reprisal if they get involved. Honor has strong moral beliefs and is troubled by slavery, so she becomes drawn into the activities of the Underground Railroad. Reading has an excellent ear for accents, and she voices Honor in a restrained, modest British dialect. The Ohio Quakers are not initially welcoming to Honor, and Reading reflects their feelings through clipped, frosty tones. Belle Mills, a milliner who befriends Honor after admiring her neat, precise needlework, is brash and outspoken. Despite her brother Donovan’s role as a slave hunter, Belle is a firm abolitionist. Donovan’s smarmy speech patterns are the direct opposite of the Quakers’ more precise voices. Intriguing and interesting (although not always sympathetic) characters, thought-provoking scenarios, and Reading’s fine narration flavor Chevalier’s latest historical saga.”
Reviewer: Candace Smith, Booklist
