Hexie Historical Fiction!

What? A book review? On The Hexie Blog? YES!

I heard about The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier from a friend. It was being read on a radio program, one chapter at a time. I did listen to the first chapter, but knew I really want to read it at my own pace.

Here the Amazon description:

A powerful journey brimming with color and drama, The Last Runaway is New York Timesbestselling author Tracy Chevalier’s vivid exploration of an iconic chapter in American history.



Ohio 1850. For a modest English Quaker stranded far from home, life is a trial. Untethered from the moment she leaves England, fleeing personal disappointment, Honor Bright is forced by family tragedy to rely on strangers in an alien, untamed landscape. Drawn into the clandestine activities of the Underground Railroad, a network helping runaway slaves escape to freedom, Honor befriends two exceptional people who embody the startling power of defiance. Eventually she must decide if she too can act on what she believes in, whatever the personal cost.


Like Sue Monk Kidd's The Invention of Wings, Chevalier's novel is a sweeping and important novel about the power of bravery, friendship, and perseverance. 

The author also wrote Girl with the Pearl Earring. I loved The Last Runaway! The plot was interesting, but I loved the way quilts and quilting were interspersed throughout the story. The main character, Honor, made hexies using English Paper Piecing, though she didn't call it that. She referred to hexies as "rosettes."

I highly recommend the book and hope you'll get a chance to read it!

Off to Chicago early in the morning! Chicago Quilt Festival, here I come!
 

 

I loved the plot. But I also loved all the quilting included throughout the story, yes, including hexies! The main character used English Paper Piecing to make hers, which she called "rosettes." It was very interesting to read how the sale of fabric was so affected by the rampant slavery controversy going on in the US during that time.