Inspired by a teacher to do something and not just stand
idly by, in 1860s, Mary Willis, a college educated young
lady makes a choice to begin helping in an abolitionist
cause, although that's not a popular stance or idea in
her small community, in Town Line, New York. As the years
pass by, Mary meets Joe Bell, a runaway slave and the two
dare to fall in love. However, with Joe's master on his
heels and with the town eventually seceding to the South,
can their love withstand these calamities?
What I expected from THE HIDDEN LIGHT OF NORTHERN FIRES
by Daren Wang is that the story will be more focused on
romance and on the forbidden attraction between a male of
African-American descent as well as a woman of European
descent. I also expected for the story to explore the
town of Town Line and the mindset that caused it to
secede from the Union.
What I received instead is a story where too much happens
in one book and with little to no exploration of the
psychology as to what happened and why. THE HIDDEN LIGHT
OF NORTHERN FIRES by Daren Wang is more action oriented
than anything else, and with so many characters sharing
the limelight, it became difficult for me to keep track
of them and of their functions. Personally if the story
was either longer or if it had less action during the
Civil War period, then I imagine I would have liked it
far more. Also, THE HIDDEN LIGHT OF NORTHERN FIRES by
Daren Wang is a tale that doesn't shy away from gore,
violence nor from killings be it people or animals. In
other words, almost nothing is safe in the story.
If you are looking for an action oriented read, or if you
are new to historical fiction genre and are frightened of
the idea of reading GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret
Mitchell, then THE HIDDEN LIGHT OF NORTHERN FIRES by
Daren Wang should be a good fit to fulfill those needs.
A novel rooted in the remarkable, but little-known, true
history of the only secessionist town north of the Mason
Dixon Line.
When escaped slave Joe Bell collapses in her father’s
barn, Mary Willis must ward off Confederate guerrillas
and spies, Joe’s vengeful owner, and even her own brother
to help the handsome fugitive cross to freedom.
Mary has always been an outcast, an outspoken
abolitionist woman in a town of bounty hunters and anti-
Union farmers. Helping runaways is the only thing that
makes her life in Town Line bearable. As the countryside
is riled by the drumbeat of civil war and the promise of
an extravagant bounty for the wounded fugitive, Mary
finds herself drawn to the stranger in forbidden ways.
When rebels cross from nearby Canada intent on killing
him, they bring the devastation of the brutal war to the
town and the farm, and threaten to destroy all that Mary
loves.
© 2003-2024 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy