This is the historically accurate novel of one of the most quietly
extraordinary women in American history. The mother of thirteen,
and the wife of John Brown, she is forgotten, yet integral part of
the march towards the abolition of slavery. She watched and helped
shape many of the major actors in that battle, from Kansas to
Harper's Ferry.Who was Mary Anne Brown? A wife and a mother?
Yes. Also, a farmer, cook, seamstress, nurse, teacher and single
parent for much of the time. How did she survive her hardships as
she moved from town to town, from state to state? How did she bury
her four young children who died in an epidemic? What was she
thinking, feeling, when Frederick was killed in Kansas? When Watson
and Oliver were killed at Harper's Ferry? When her husband was
hanged? When she was widowed, with little resources?Woven into
Mary's story are chapters about Prudence Crandall (who enrolled
Negro children in her Female Seminary), Lucy Stone (feminist and
anti-slavery activist), Araminta Ross (Harriet Tubman), and Mary
Todd Lincoln.
