The Underground River: A Novel
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Description
Set aboard a nineteenth century riverboat theater, this New York Times Notable book is the "captivating, thoughtful, and unforgettable" (Kathleen Grissom, author of The Kitchen House) story of a charmingly frank and naive seamstress who is blackmailed into saving runaways on the Underground Railroad, jeopardizing her freedom, her livelihood, and a new love.
It's 1838, and May Bedloe works as a seamstress for her cousin, the famous actress Comfort Vertue—until their steamboat sinks on the Ohio River. Though they both survive, both must find new employment. Comfort is hired to give lectures by noted abolitionist, Flora Howard, and May finds work on a small flatboat, Hugo and Helena's Floating Theatre, as it cruises the border between the northern states and the southern slave-holding states.
May becomes indispensable to Hugo and his troupe, and all goes well until she sees her cousin again. Comfort and Mrs. Howard are also traveling down the Ohio River, speaking out against slavery at the many riverside towns. May owes Mrs. Howard a debt she cannot repay, and Mrs. Howard uses the opportunity to enlist May in her network of shadowy characters who help ferry slaves across the river to freedom. Lying has never come easy to May, but now she is compelled to break the law, deceive all her newfound friends, and deflect the rising suspicions of a slave catcher.
As May's secrets become more tangled, the Floating Theatre readies for its biggest performance yet. May's predicament could mean doom for her friends on board, including her beloved Hugo, unless she can figure out a way to entrap those who know her best. "Twain has his 'Life on the Mississippi'. Conway's life on the Ohio makes you see the place, through May's eyes, in all its muddy glory" (New York Times Book Review).
It's 1838, and May Bedloe works as a seamstress for her cousin, the famous actress Comfort Vertue—until their steamboat sinks on the Ohio River. Though they both survive, both must find new employment. Comfort is hired to give lectures by noted abolitionist, Flora Howard, and May finds work on a small flatboat, Hugo and Helena's Floating Theatre, as it cruises the border between the northern states and the southern slave-holding states.
May becomes indispensable to Hugo and his troupe, and all goes well until she sees her cousin again. Comfort and Mrs. Howard are also traveling down the Ohio River, speaking out against slavery at the many riverside towns. May owes Mrs. Howard a debt she cannot repay, and Mrs. Howard uses the opportunity to enlist May in her network of shadowy characters who help ferry slaves across the river to freedom. Lying has never come easy to May, but now she is compelled to break the law, deceive all her newfound friends, and deflect the rising suspicions of a slave catcher.
As May's secrets become more tangled, the Floating Theatre readies for its biggest performance yet. May's predicament could mean doom for her friends on board, including her beloved Hugo, unless she can figure out a way to entrap those who know her best. "Twain has his 'Life on the Mississippi'. Conway's life on the Ohio makes you see the place, through May's eyes, in all its muddy glory" (New York Times Book Review).
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Format:
Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read
Street Date:
06/20/2017
Language:
English
ISBN:
9781501160264
ASIN:
B01MG7OP6M
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Citations
APA Citation (style guide)
Martha Conway. (2017). The Underground River: A Novel. Atria Books.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Martha Conway. 2017. The Underground River: A Novel. Atria Books.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Martha Conway, The Underground River: A Novel. Atria Books, 2017.
MLA Citation (style guide)Martha Conway. The Underground River: A Novel. Atria Books, 2017.
Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
Copy Details
| Library | Owned | Available |
|---|---|---|
| Shared Digital Collection | 1 | 1 |
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Grouped Work ID:
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Needs Update?:
No
Date Added:
Jun 12, 2018 16:36:17
Date Updated:
Dec 06, 2020 02:43:17
Last Metadata Check:
Apr 14, 2024 08:00:55
Last Metadata Change:
Jun 04, 2023 10:43:01
Last Availability Check:
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Last Availability Change:
Sep 23, 2023 18:21:21
Last Grouped Work Modification Time:
Apr 15, 2024 02:11:38
OverDrive Product Record
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- bioText: Martha Conway grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, the sixth of seven daughters. Her first novel was nominated for an Edgar Award, and she has won several awards for her historical fiction, including an Independent Book Publishers Award and the North American Book Award for Historical Fiction. Her short fiction has been published in the Iowa Review, Massachusetts Review, Carolina Quarterly, Folio, Epoch, The Quarterly, and other journals. She has received a California Arts Council Fellowship for Creative Writing, and has reviewed books for the Iowa Review and the San Francisco Chronicle. She now lives in San Francisco, and is an instructor of creative writing for Stanford University's Continuing Studies Program and UC Berkeley Extension. She is the author of The Underground River.
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- fullDescription
- Set aboard a nineteenth century riverboat theater, this New York Times Notable book is the "captivating, thoughtful, and unforgettable" (Kathleen Grissom, author of The Kitchen House) story of a charmingly frank and naive seamstress who is blackmailed into saving runaways on the Underground Railroad, jeopardizing her freedom, her livelihood, and a new love.
It's 1838, and May Bedloe works as a seamstress for her cousin, the famous actress Comfort Vertue—until their steamboat sinks on the Ohio River. Though they both survive, both must find new employment. Comfort is hired to give lectures by noted abolitionist, Flora Howard, and May finds work on a small flatboat, Hugo and Helena's Floating Theatre, as it cruises the border between the northern states and the southern slave-holding states.
May becomes indispensable to Hugo and his troupe, and all goes well until she sees her cousin again. Comfort and Mrs. Howard are also traveling down the Ohio River, speaking out against slavery at the many riverside towns. May owes Mrs. Howard a debt she cannot repay, and Mrs. Howard uses the opportunity to enlist May in her network of shadowy characters who help ferry slaves across the river to freedom. Lying has never come easy to May, but now she is compelled to break the law, deceive all her newfound friends, and deflect the rising suspicions of a slave catcher.
As May's secrets become more tangled, the Floating Theatre readies for its biggest performance yet. May's predicament could mean doom for her friends on board, including her beloved Hugo, unless she can figure out a way to entrap those who know her best. "Twain has his 'Life on the Mississippi'. Conway's life on the Ohio makes you see the place, through May's eyes, in all its muddy glory" (New York Times Book Review). - reviews
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June 15, 2017
Seamstress May Bedloe and her cousin actress Comfort Vertue are traveling on the steamboat Moselle on the Ohio River when they are separated after the ship explodes and sinks. The year is 1838, and Comfort, who is rescued by the abolitionist Mrs. Howard, gives up her acting career to give antislavery lectures. May is hired by the owner of a floating theater troupe whose sister died on the Moselle. Making friends on the boat, she also slowly begins a romance. When May and Comfort cross paths again, Mrs. Howard blackmails May, who owes her a debt, into joining the Underground Railroad as she is needed to ferry the newborn babies of enslaved mothers across the river. May, even though opposed to slavery, is hesitant to risk her new life to help out. VERDICT Thanks to the success of Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad, the subject of the abolition movement is popular in fiction now. Conway (Thieving Forest; Sugarland) offers a novel take on the topic, and book groups will especially enjoy the distinctive setting, the rich historical details, and the thorny issues begging to be discussed. [See also David Keymer's roundup "Slave Narratives: Six Novels Explore a Painful Legacy," LJ 4/1/16.--Ed.]--Lynnanne Pearson, Skokie P.L., IL
Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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It's 1838, and May Bedloe works as a seamstress for her cousin, the famous actress Comfort Vertue—until their steamboat sinks on the Ohio River. Though they both survive, both must find new employment. Comfort is hired to give lectures by noted abolitionist, Flora Howard, and May finds work on a small flatboat, Hugo and Helena's Floating Theatre, as it cruises the border between the northern states and the southern slave-holding states.
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