The Last Runaway

Honor Bright is a sheltered Quaker who has rarely ventured out of 1850s Dorset when she impulsively emigrates to America. Opposed to the slavery that defines and divides the country, she finds her principles tested to the limit when a runaway slave appears at the farm of her new family. In this tough, unsentimental place, where whisky bottles sit alongside quilts, Honor befriends two spirited women who will teach her how to turn ideas into actions. ‘I have always admired Tracy Chevalier's un-showy brilliance, and this moving story of a young English Quaker girl trapped between duty and conscience in 1850s Ohio is the best thing she's written since Girl with a Pearl Earring’  Rose Tremain'The Last Runaway is a joy to read. Chevalier handles the intersection of two stories – those of pioneering Quakers and escaping slaves – with verve, imagination and, above all, compassion’  Maggie O’Farrell‘A brave, warm-hearted, moving book; the characters are well-drawn and credible; the local colour meticulously detailed’  Joanne Harris‘By far her best book since Girl With A Pearl Earring if not better’  Amanda Craig‘Chevalier places her heroine at the heart, constructing a synergy between character and plot that makes this novel exquisitely complete… addictively compelling… Honor Bright deserves a sequel’  The Times‘Her best since Girl With a Pearl Earring… as a serious novel about a genuine moral dilemma, it is highly recommended’  The Independent‘Chevalier immerses herself in period and place. Her research, as always, is meticulous and lightly worn… an entertaining read’  The Guardian‘Chevalier’s eye for the telling detail brings it vividly to life. As simple and plain as a Quaker bonnet, but, like a Quaker soul, it contains a hidden light’  Literary Review‘A gripping and potent novel which shows Chevalier at the height of her powers’  The Express‘Tracy Chevalier has found a subject that both fascinates and moves her and the result is this quietly powerful and gripping novel’  The Mail‘An accomplished historical novelist, and she successfully evokes the texture of life in the antebellum Midwest’  Independent on Sunday