The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

I finished reading Sue Monk Kidd's latest novel The Invention of Wings last night. I really loved this book, a historical fiction novel based on two real women, Sarah and Angelina Grimke. The Grimke women were sisters born in Charleston in the early part of the 1800s. Their family had slaves but the girls were opposed to slavery and as adults were some of the first vocal opponents of owning slaves.

Much of the book was made up but Kidd used historical records, letters, and documents that she interspersed in the novel to make it come to life. If you love a good story that you can research later and read more about, don't miss The Invention of Wings.

To read more about these women who really were rebels especially in the times in which they lived, visit the National Women's History Museum website.

Book Read:  The Invention of Wings

Author:  Sue Monk Kidd

The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier

I love Tracy Chevalier's novels. I think I've read them all, and her latest, The Last Runaway, is one of her best. For one thing, The Last Runaway is set in America (mostly) during the mid-1800s. Chevalier is American but lives in England and usually sets her books there or in Europe.  

The premise--Honor Bright, a young Quaker woman, travels with her sister from England to America because she was jilted by her fiance--is a good one. When her sister, who is engaged to marry a Quaker from their English town who has settled in Ohio, dies on the trip, Honor is left in alone in a strange country where she only knows her sister's fiance. 

On top of this, the Underground Railroad that was big in Ohio at the time plays a large part. As do quilts.

From there, the story gently unfolds like real history with the help of the letters at the end of each chapter, usually written by Honor but occasionally but another character.
 
I found the Quaker history and customs interesting and pretty shocking in places. Read it. You'll see!

Book Read:  The Last Runaway
Author:  Tracy Chevalier