I love a good historical fiction and The Mapmaker’s Children by Sarah McCoy did not disappoint. The Mapmaker’s Children is the story of the true heroine and artist, Sarah Brown, daughter of famous abolitionist John Brown. McCoy weaves the story of Sarah Brown and her involvement with the Underground Railroad alongside a modern day Eden Anderson, a woman looking for her own independence from the stress of trying to have a child with her husband Jack.
In the novel, Sarah Brown is unable to bear children due to being damaged through a childhood bout of dysentery . She vows to make her life useful in another way by devoting her life and artistic skills to create picture maps that aid runaway slaves along the route of the Underground Railroad. Sarah meets additional real historical figures throughout the novel. One of my favorite parts of the story was discovering the various ways Sarah would paint her maps.
Eden Anderson finds remnants of items left in her historical home, later learning that her house was a stop for passengers on the Underground Railroad. Throughout her discoveries, she learns that New Charleston, West Virginia is filled with wonderful people who help Eden and her husband Jack create a family of their own, a family of friends.
McCoy does an admirable job of marrying just the right amount of true facts from Sarah Brown’s life to make the fictional character come to life for the reader. Growing up in Kansas, I knew of the Underground Railroad, and of the famous John Brown. However, I did not know anything of his family. I truly enjoyed reading McCoy’s novel and discovering bits and pieces of Sarah Brown’s life in an engaging read. Now that I have read McCoy’s novel, The Mapmaker’s Children, I can’t wait to read more of her work.
FTC disclaimer: I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review
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