Sunday, November 8, 2009

Sunday Salon: Receive Me Falling by Erica Robuck

Nevis Island.
February 1831

The slave woman fell over the cliff's edge toward the black swirl of water that churned over the boulders reaching from the sea.

Title:
Receive Me Falling
Author: Erica Robuck
ISBN: 9780982229804
Publisher: Elysian Field Press/2009
Page: 266

Meghan Owen is engaged to be married. When her parents die in an accident on the night of her engage party, she calls of her wedding. Going through her father's papers, she finds, she has inherited land in Nevis. She leaves her job to travel there. When she reaches the old plantation House, Eden, she finds letter and papers and an ominous presence of dark secrets. She has to get into the bottom of it and also find out how she is involved in all this.

She learns about the Dall family who had leaved there in the 19th century. Just at that moment the British abolitionists had arrived to free the slaves. The daughter of the plantation owner Catherine Dall, is tormented between her sense of fairness and her family. She loves and cares for the slaves in her plantation. However, she can't escape her destiny. When Catherine discovers some unpleasant truth about her slave, leah, she gets maddeningly angry and tragic strikes in the form of Leah's death. Was it suicide, or was it murder?

Meg too finds that the land that she owns is tainted with the stigma of slavery and stolen money. It falls on Meg to find the secrets and let the ghosts rest forever. She has to balance her present with the historic events that took place so much before her time.

With alternate chapters, the present and past somehow merge and Meg has the big task of bringing justice to the ghosts of the past. With simplistic writing about the complex issue of slavery, Robuck has written a good readable nobel. The secondary characters too are very well etched out. Yes, there is so much sadness. No slave stoy can ever be happy. And every slave story needs to be told. Maybe that way we might be able to learn something from the past.

Do check out the following reviews too:

Bookjourney

Framed
Booklogged
Marcia
Historically Obssessed
booktumbling
Alipet
Musings of a Book Addict
Anna's Book Blog
Andi's Book Reviews
The Book Inn
Two Kids & Tired Book Blogger
Book Nook Club
Dan's Journal

13 comments:

Erika Robuck said...

Thanks so much for your review!

rhapsodyinbooks said...

This sounds very good! I haven't heard of it before, but it definitely sounds like something I would enjoy.

Rosaria Williams said...

Interesting. I came in from DS's Third Story Window. You have quite a selection of good links here.

Natalie W said...

Thanks for stopping by my site and for the link. Great review!

Yvonne said...

Excellent review!

Vasilly said...

This sounds like a great book. I'm definitely adding it to my reading pile. Great review.

Holly (2 Kids and Tired) said...

Terrific review. And thank you for the link love! I really enjoyed it too. I can't wait to see more from Erika!

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz said...

Thank you for the review!

Lizzy J Historically Obsessed said...

Very good point I too also felt that past and present were very well seemed together. I did really enjoy this novel, tragic but very mysterious in a good way.

BurtonReview said...

I look forward to reading this one, thanks for the review and for posting all the links to the other reviews as well. I'll have to move this one up somehow.

Marie Cloutier said...

Great review- sounds like one I'd really like! :-)

Teddy Rose said...

Wonderful review! This book is on my TBR.

Andrea Coventry said...

Just finally noticed your comment! So sorry! I am leaving a link back to yours, too. Thanks for putting mine here!