The Purchase, Linda Spalding
The Purchase, Linda Spalding
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The Purchase

Author: Linda Spalding

Narrator: Robin Miles

Unabridged: 10 hr 55 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 08/06/2013


Synopsis

In this provocative and starkly beautiful historical novel, a Quaker family moves from Pennsylvania to the Virginia frontier, where slaves are the only available workers and where the family' s values and beliefs are sorely tested. In 1798, Daniel Dickinson, recently widowed and shunned by his fellow Quakers when he marries his young servant girl to help with his five small children, moves his shaken family down the Wilderness Road to the Virginia/Kentucky border. Although determined to hold on to his Quaker ways, and despite his most dearly held belief that slavery is a sin, Daniel becomes the owner of a young boy named Onesimus, setting in motion a twisted chain of events that will lead to tragedy and murder, forever changing his children' s lives and driving the book to an unexpected conclusion. A powerful novel of sacrifice and redemption set in a tiny community on the edge of the frontier, this spellbinding narrative unfolds around Daniel' s struggle to maintain his faith; his young wife, Ruth, who must find her own way; and Mary, the eldest child, who is bound to a runaway slave by a terrible secret. Darkly evocative, The Purchase is as hard-edged as the realities of pioneer life. Its memorable characters, drawn with compassion and depth, are compellingly human, with lives that bring light to matters of loyalty and conscience.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Elizabeth (Alaska) on March 24, 2017

Spalding has based her award winning novel on an ancestor, Daniel Livingston. The Pennsylvania Quaker whose wife died 21 days after childbirth chose to marry the 15-year old orphan who was her caretaker rather than return her to the orphan asylum. Ruth Boyd was a Methodist. This alliance was intoler......more

Goodreads review by Esta on September 24, 2013

Full disclosure - my mother wrote this book. But she's written many books and I've never gone online to talk about them. This books is different. It's a gripping tale. Masterfully told. An epic family saga whose characters will live on in your heart long after the book is over. I cannot say enough h......more

Goodreads review by Elise on December 04, 2013

Whether consciously aware of it or not, the point of view from which a story is told can make or break the story. The most popular points of view are first person—in which the reader sees the events unfold through the eyes of a single character, including their thoughts and feelings—and third person......more

Goodreads review by Steven on November 15, 2012

"The Purchase" has been awarded the 2012 Governor General's Prize for English-language Canadian fiction, meaning that three separate books have won the three major Canadian literary awards for 2012 ("419" by Will Ferguson won the Giller, and "Siege 13" by Tamas Dobozy won the Rogers Writers Trust pr......more

Goodreads review by Erin on April 25, 2013

In my biased view, Linda Spalding had an exciting plot to work with: Quaker settlers head to Virginia to set up house and farm and have to reconcile their beliefs with slavery, greed and "American" individualism. All the trappings of a terrific plot: cold winters, butter churns, trading pigs with ne......more