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Jump to navigationJump to searchThe Purchase by Linda Spalding (view source)
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1798: Daniel Dickinson moves his five children and 15-year-old second wife away from te the Pennsylvanian Quaker community he used to call home, towards Virginia. While on an equipment-buying trip he comes across a slave auction and decides to be true to his abolitionist beliefs in an unusual way. He buys Onesimus, a young slave boy, in order to change the lad's life, intending to offer him a home and fairness in place of captivity. However, reality is more difficult and the Dickinsons find that their new servant will actually change their lives instead.
American writer Linda Spalding has picked a subject close to her heart: a novel based on the life of her few-greats-grandfather Daniel Dickinson but there's really no need to cringe. Yes, I know that often projects like this turn out to be more about the author's personal quest than providing good reading matter but the way that Linda fictionalises the results of her genealogical research is an absolute triumph, not to mention a convincing award winner.
