The Last Runaway: A Novel

I like Tracy Chevalier's work, and appreciate her careful research. Thanks to her diligent work, her novels seamlessly evoke the historical time periods in which her work take place without ever seeming burdened.The Last Runaway vividly conjures up Ohio in Antebellum America, the Underground Railroad, and participation of Quakers in fighting slavery.

A great book by Tracy Chevalier. Wonderful detail, character development and research. The author always tells a fabulous story, weaved with historical details. I loved her first novel, but had not enjoyed her subsequent ones as much. This one is great.

The characters are somewhat caricatures rather than fully developed people. Chevalier's research on Quaker history is mediocre. Not to create spoilers, but something happens in the middle of the novel that someone like Jack or Honor Bright would not have done (at least not without great guilt and shame). It certainly wasn't an accepted custom among Quakers.

I have the Kindle version of this book. The story is fabulous, but the
editing is poor so far. I have found whole paragraphs repeated and some words
that do not match the next page. I hope it is re-released with better editing because
the story is very engrossing. It is just distracting to keep finding out where the story goes.

Found the book very interesting because I have long been interested in the slavery situation in the USA.
This book written in a very personal style described the harrowing situations both sides of the issue faced. Several character studies were well done. I have a very personal interest in the area described because my ancestors on one side came to that part of Ohio and one of the men was much involved in the slavery movement in a professional way because he served in Congress during those years.

While the settings and Quaker background were good in this book, I just couldn't get involved with the main characters. The story wasn't as exciting as I expected because the workings of the underground railroad were secondary to Honor's inner conflicts. The ending was predictable.

Anyone who has ever enjoyed quilting or loved their beauty will appreciate this book. It is set in early Ohio, I was just there so her setting really rang true. Also, the backdrop of Quakers and the Underground Railroad made the plot interesting. The reader gets to know Honor's thoughts especially well through the letters she sends home to England.

Honor Bright trip from her town in England. The nauseous boat trip. And the unfortunate death of her sister just before reaching her sister's fiance. Honor feels all alone in strange place she is befriend by Belle is millinery and her handsome brother,bounty hunter.
He brother in law ,sister's fiance, comes to get her She taken into his home. The home has his recently widowed sister in law. She feels unwanted there She is wondering what to when a young man takes a likening to her. He begins courting her. His mother disproves of her. He marries her Her mother in law makes her life hard and unbearable . Honor starts to help runaway slaves. Against her mother in laws rules. Keeps doing it and learns more of law as against helping runaways slaves.
She can't understand not helping an other human. Pregnant she runs away with a slaves,because doesn't see living in the family. She ends up at Belle's again.....
Read to see what happens to Honor and her husband.

Tracey Chevalier is one of my favorite authors but this recent novel didn't hit the mark so much for me. As always, her writing is backed by sound research which gives an accurate picture of the time period and events; however, the characters and plot were rather weak and the responses and behavior of characters were at times awkward and unconvincing. All up, a light weight novel, worth a read but definitely not the best of Chevalier novels.

Loved it, loved it. Wonderful story. I can't bring myself to read another book right now, as I want to think about the message and outcome of the story. I'll definitely be reading more Tracy Chevalier books.

What an original and wonderful work! So enjoyed this book from beginning to end. Fascinating look at the underground railroad and Quaker life. Loved the variety of characters in this book. Great for book clubs.

This was an easy read. The prose flows nicely, and the characters, though not especially complex, are well drawn and engaging. The setting in pre-Civil War Ohio is also vivid. Before reaching the end, I might have given it 4 stars.

This is my second Tracy Chevalier. After reading "The Girl With The Pearl Earring", I was anxious to read another indepth story, but ended up reading a story that was not a very believable story line. I was a little disappointed, but it was good light reading.

Unconvincing story but with some lovely descriptive writing of 1800's Ohio landscape. Brief glimpses of
Quaker attitudes toward slavery, quilting as art form as well as necessity, women's place in pioneer life, and perils of traversing the Underground Railway. Too bad the characters were not better realized.

I've never read such a modern,well-developed novel created out of Slavery, Quakers and Ohio's place in the Underground Railway. It was a challenge to begin to read such a well-studied story, but I found Chevalier's fresh look well worth my time.

I have always enjoyed Tracy Chevalier's books and this one was no exception. I finished the book a couple of weeks ago and I am still thinking about the characters. I loved the examination of how they managed the times they were living in with their beliefs and principles. This author weaves a wonderful story around a complicated time in our history.

This is a good book regarding the Underground Railroad and the Quakers and early Ohio history. It even includes some England history as well. The book is a fascinating story of Honor Brite, a Quaker who moves from England to the USA. She seems like a genuine character (person) and I could identify with many of her dilemmas. Life sure was different back then though. I recommend this book. Thank you.

Good summer read. I truly enjoyed this book. Insights into the Quaker religion; quilting; underground railway; and the hardships of sailing from England and settling Ohio in the 1800s. Hard to believe it was fiction.

I have read all her books with great enjoyment and only Burning Bright got three stars! As does this one.
I find her writing very easy and like her research. Mostly IMHO TC can be relied upon to provide a good story, very readable with the added bonus of learning something. Here my expectations may have been too high!
Quilting...interesting and yes a rich and varied history within itself.
Underground Railroad..I was keen to know more and I do, to a point. Only.
Homesteading...always of interest to a prairie girl.
Honor and her letters were very engaging. The sea voyage and making your way across land in that day, well done. Life in the USA compard to England very well done. Very detailed and I enjoyed this aspect of the book very much. As IMO today and then, these are varied and intense differences and certainly make settling in a challenge for all. Even with a similar language very different and often makes me wonder with admiration at those with little English, in either.
I expect quite good observations from an author who left the USA and has lived in England for 25 years. I moved to Europe myself 30 years ago and perhaps bring a different perspective as I read the book.
I liked the characters.
Why then did I stop and read various newspaper reviews half way through? Because at times I felt I was reading a sort of Harlequin Romance from my youth........that was exactly what I likened it to, the early teenage reads with a little more story and very well written!
But I will still look forward to the next Tracy Chevalier book.....absolutely.

The book used down-to-earth language to create believability and understanding of the protagonist's experiences. The motif of quilts was not only informative, but also indicative of the theme of Honor's exile and subsequent adaptation to a new, fascinating, yet bewildering country. Her "stitching" her past to her presence and future was well complemented by the quilt imagery. The book was fast and easy reading, and was generally interesting and the way that it provided a unique point of view of the Underground Railroad.

The opening was great- plot line pulled me in. Got slow around the middle and had a ho-hum ending. Interesting if you enjoy quilting, the westward movement, 19th c. Quakers, and are interested in the Fugitive Slave Act.

Great book to help you wrestle with the theory vs the practice of being an abolitioniist when your life and livelihood are on the line. This is a wonderul story of an English Quaker woman who accompaniedher sister to America but had to learn how to survive in a restless new world after her she and her sister were separated.

Very interesting especially because I live in the area that the book was written in and have a Quaker background. Discusses the underground railroad in this area and the atmosphere of the times and why the civil war had to happen

This is another book I could not put down. Exceptional story. You could feel all of the happiness, pain, sorrow and fear that was felt by Honor and the runaway slaves. I would recommend his book to anyone young or elderly.

There wasn't anything to not like about this book. Another one of those writers that does incredible research and puts it with a great story. Always something to be learned in her books. Thanks Tracy Chevalier.

How did many of these people survive? All they wanted was freedom. The people that helped them knew that slavery was wrong, and put their own lively hood on the line. This is just one story of the thousands that happened during the period of the underground railroad.

This is a plodding, fairly predictable story of a young Quaker woman, Honor Bright, who emigrates from England to America in the 1850s. Originally intending to live with her engaged sister and her fiancé, plans change when her sister becomes ill and dies. What follows is the story of Honor's adjustment to a radically altered life in America.

Unfortunately, Honor is a truly weak protagonist, unable to make decisions, and unable to stand up to those around her who would expect her to compromise her Quaker principles. That tension could have produced far more exciting scenes than it did. There is one rather surprising turn at the end, but on the whole, the ending is easy to predict, and left me only slightly optimistic about Honor's future.

This was a very good novel about escaping slaves coming north through Ohio trying to get to Canada and the Quakers who either helped them or feared to do so, and the clash this caused in one family. I would recommend it.

This was a good book, sometimes I found it annoying but that is because the way people lived in the 1800's was way different than we live now. Overall it was a good book and I would advise others to read it.

This is an interesting story of a young woman who comes to America in the 1850s. She is a Quaker. The story is about the collision of runaway slaves and people in the north, in this case Ohio, and who would help and who would not. Of course the personal dynamics of the characters is what Tracy Chevalier does so well .

A great story about a Quaker immigrant in Ohio. Interesting history as well about the Ohio community's mixed acceptance of the African American community and the role of women in society at the time. Highly recommend.

I like the writing of Tracy Chevalier which has more depth than some of the popular modern authors. This novel chronicles the struggles of a young girl who left her native country and came to America. After her older sister dies, she travels alone to Ohio and settles in a Quaker community where her struggles are many. Might have special to people who quilt.

I was drawn to the historical setting. The novel is well researched and the difficulties and sheer remoteness of rural America in the mid-nineteenth century are evocatively depicted. I found it easy to identify with the plight of a young English Quaker woman.