Ashes (Seeds of America Trilogy - Book 3) by Laurie Halse Anderson

Ashes continues the story of Isabel and Curzon begun in Chains and continued in Forge, picking up the threads of their story 3 years later, beginning on June 25, 1781, and ending on November 5, 1781.  And while Chains was told from Isabel's point of view, and Forge was told from Curzon's point of view, in Ashes the story is again narrated by Isabel.

Three years have gone by since Isabel and Curzon escaped from Valley Forge and their enslavement by the cruel, sadistic Mister Bellingham. Now, as runaway slaves, they have already walked nearly 1,000 miles from Pennsylvania to Virginia to South Carolina in search of Isabel's younger, epileptic sister, Ruth, and dodging British and Continental patrols, armed Loyalists and bounty hunters along the way.

But when they finally find Ruth, Isabel doesn't get the reception she had been hoping for. Instead, Ruth is cold and won't even look at her sister.  She has been living with an elderly slave couple and a young boy named Aberdeen since being sent south in 1776. Though the couple love Ruth as if she were their own daughter, they tell her to go north with her sister and to do what she says. Ruth may be obedient to her sister's requests, but she still wants nothing to do with Isabel, refusing to even look at her, much to Isabel's disappointment.

Meanwhile, Curzon's loyalty is still with the Patriots, while Isabel feels that neither the British nor the Patriots will help enslaved people like themselves achieve freedom, no matter what they promise. The two argue about this endlessly, so when Curzon, Isabel, Ruth and Aberdeen meet up with the Continental Army at Williamsburg, Va, they decide to go their separate ways. Aberdeen chooses to work as a spy for the British, Curzon rejoins the Patriot army, and the two sisters find work in a laundry run by Widow Hallahan. With a promise to be paid money, Isabel also finds work washing up and later serving in a tavern owned by Widow Hallahan's son and frequented by the Americans and French. But once the armies move on the Yorktown, Isabel wonders what will happen. It doesn't take long to find out. Isabel rightly suspects that Widow Hallahan has plans for Ruth that don't include Isabel - shades of Mrs. Lockton's treachery in Chains that originally separated the two sisters.  Isabel quickly decides that it is time to leave, and the sisters make a daring exit from Williamsburg, following the armies to Yorktown, VA and finding work as cooks.

Though Isabel finds herself in the midst of the war, this last book in the trilogy is really about her, with the chaos and confusion of the war mirroring her thoughts and feelings about her and Ruth, and what the future will hold for them, and the place Curzon may or may not have in it. Isabel and Curzon have now known each other since she was 12 and he was 15. He is the only person she has ever really trusted, but as the war carries on around them, Isabel sees less and less of him, even as she thinks more and more about him. It takes a long time for Isabel to realize that Curzon can love her at the same time that he loves his country and he is willing for fight for both of them.

Laurie Halse Anderson has explored so many aspects of the Revolutionary War in her Seeds of America Trilogy that are not a part of the usual school curriculum.  And she has brilliantly woven them into the story of these young enslaved people who only want their freedom, paralleling their stories with that of the Patriots who are fighting for their freedom and independence from Britain. She offers readers a vibrant history of a war that we traditionally think of in terms of white soldiers and leaders being fought for white colonists, forgetting or not even knowing that there were many African American soldiers who also fought, generally in place of their owners, in the hope of gaining their freedom after the war is over, soldiers like Curzon; and girls like Isabel, who were charged with helping to care of the leaders of the war with no real hope of future freedom.

Ashes ends with the surrender of the British and the end of the war.  And for readers it is the end of Isabel and Curzon's stories, but Anderson offers us a hopeful conclusion to her Seeds of America trilogy, though there are no tidy answers about the future for Isabel, Curson, Ruth and Aberdeen. They must still head north, they are still considered to be runaway slaves, and there are still bounty hunters after them.

Chains, Forge, and Ashes are individually and as a trilogy so well-crafted that it takes my breath away when I think about it. They are honest, thought provoking, gripping adventure as they narrate the sensitive personal stories about people who traditionally have not had voice at that time. By giving Isabel and Curzon a voice, Anderson has opened our eyes to really thinking differently about the history of this country.

Be sure not to miss the extensive appendix at the end of the book which offers explanations and suggestions for further reading about many of the people, places and events included in Ashes.

I cannot recommend Chains, Forge, and Ashes highly enough.

This book is recommended for readers age 10+
This book was an EARC received from Edelweiss/Above the Treeline

Forge (Seeds of America Trilogy - Book 2) by Laurie Halse Anderson

Forge continues the story of Isabel and Curzon begun in Chains, picking up the threads of it almost 10 months later, beginning on October 7, 1777 and ending on May 18, 1778. And while Chains was told from Isabel's point of view, in Forge it switches to Curzon's voice.

Isabel and Curzon have gone their separate ways.  Isabel has run away, determined to find her sister Ruth while Curzon finds himself first in the midst of the Battle of Saratoga after saving the life of a Patriot soldier name Eben Woodruff of the Sixteenth Massachusetts Regiment and nephew of the regiment's commanding officer. From Saratoga it was on to the winter encampment at Valley Forge. Curzon enlists in the army in the hope of gaining his freedom and in the process, besides Eben, he makes a few other friends and a few enemies.

Valley Forge proves to be a real challenge.  There are no barracks, so they are ordered to built huts that are always cold and leaky, many of the soldiers don't even have shoes anymore, and must stand in the cold snow in bare frostbitten feet, many are ill with disease and every one is cold and hungry all the time, desperate for food, warm clothing and shoes that never seem to arrive.  And for Curson, because he is African American, it also meaning dealing with constant racism.

Isabel and Curzon may have gone their separate ways, but he never stops thinking about her.  Nor has Curzon forgotten his former master, the cruel, sadistic James Bellingham.  In Chains, Bellingham had enlisted Curzon to take his place in the army with the promise of his freedom after the war, a promise he has no intention of honoring.  When he shows up at Valley Forge, Curzon finds himself again in his clutches, having enlisted again as a free man when he was still owned by Bellingham. And to real surprise, after arriving at the house where Bellingham is staying, he finds that Isabel has also there, as well as another slave, Gideon, who refuses to even acknowledge Curzon. To keep Isabel in her place and, Bellingham has placed an iron ring around her neck as a constant reminded of her enslavement, and only he has the key to unlock it.

Curzon begins plans to escape Bellingham again, and tries to talk Isabel into going with him, but she seems more interested in Gideon now, and eventually reveals that they have their own plans to escape.  But Curzon doesn't trust Gideon, and it turns out, with good reason. When the truth about Gideon is discovered, will Curzon and Isabel be able to mend their friendship enough to attempt escape from Bellingham?

Like Chains, Forge never lets the reader forget the irony of African Americans fighting for the freedom of the country that has enslaved them, perhaps expressed best by Curzon's friend and fellow soldier Eben Woodruff who tells him "Two slaves running away from their rightful master is not the same as America wanting to be free of England." (pg 65) And Laurie Halse Anderson explores this irony in the attitudes and beliefs of a variety of different characters, American and British, rich and poor, as they impact the lives of Curzon and Isabel.

Isabel was such a compelling narrator in Chains, and I found that to be true of Curzon in Forge. By switching narrators, Anderson presents the harsh conditions on the battlefield and as well as in a house with a white man is a harsh master over his enslaved servants. I have to be honest and say that what happens on battlefields isn't something I am generally interested in, yet I found I couldn't put this down and have a better understanding of what the Patriot soldiers experienced than I ever did when we studied the Revolutionary War in school.

Just as she did in Chains, Anderson has included quotes at the beginning of each chapter, so taken from original sources and adding to the authenticity of the novel.  She also includes the dates during which each chapter occurs.  This kind of timeline approach also helps situate the reader in terms of what was actually happening in the Revolution.

Forge is a wonderful sequel to Chains, but it is also a novel that can stand alone.  And as I did with the first novel, I cannot recommend this highly enough.

Laurie Halse Anderson has excellent teaching resources for Forge.  You can find it HERE

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was purchased for my personal library

Chains (Seeds of America Trilogy - Book 1) by Laurie Halse Anderson

Much of this review was posted on my other blog, The Children's War, as part of a Revolutionary War Reading Challenge a few years ago.  

Chains is the story of a young slave girl who yearns for freedom.  It takes place during the American Revolution and he time period covered in this first book of a trilogy is May 27, 1776 to January 19, 1777.  

Living in Rhode Island, Isabel, 13, and her younger sister Ruth are quickly sold by a greedy nephew for the money they will bring after their somewhat benevolent owner, Miss Fitch, passes away.  But Miss Fitch had promised them freedom after her death and Isabel can't get that promise out of her head. And unlike most slaves at the time, Isabel knows how to read. 

Now, as the American Revolution begins, the sisters find themselves in a Loyalist household in New York City at the mercy of a cruel mistress, Mrs. Lockton.  The Locktons, who believe their bread is buttered on the side of the Loyalists and King George III, despise the Patriots who want independence from them and everything they stand for.

It isn't long before Isabel meets Curzon, a young slave working for the Patriots, and known for the red tricorn hat he is always seen wearing.  Curzon convinces Isabel to spy on Mr. Lockton, and report anything she hears that might be useful to the Patriots.  Isabel isn't very enthusiastic about doing this, but when she is given the devastating news that Mrs. Lockton has sold Ruth, she changes her mind.  It had just been discovered that Ruth suffers from seizures and the very ignorant, superstitious Mrs. Lockton believes that they are a sign that the devil is in Ruth.

Curson proves to be a good friend to Isabel, although she has very mixed feelings about him, the war between the Patriots and the Loyalists and which side would be most beneficial to her in terms of getting her freedom. 

As the war heats up, so does Isabel's determination to find her sister and, as she is told by an elderly slave known as Grandfather, to find the way to cross her own River Jordan* to freedom.

Chains is written in the first person, so we always know exactly what is going on in Isabel's mind, how she perceives everything around her and, most poignantly, how she feels about the things that happen to her.  But by spying on Mr. Lockton and his friends, we are also given a certain amount of insight into the Loyalist side of things. 

Isabel is a very strong willed girl and Mrs. Lockton knows it and is determined to break that will and so she is constantly trying to tighten the chains of slavery that bind Isabel.  Yet, it takes a while for the realization that Mrs. Lockton cannot chain her soul to really sink in to Isabel's consciousness, even though all her actions had always already proven it to be true.  Her strength in the face of Mrs. Lockton, her wavering between the Patriots and the Loyalists, her determination and her innate sense of kindness despite everything all make Isabel such an exemplary protagonist. 

In fact, Anderson has created a whole cast of characters in Chains who play their parts to perfection.  Set against the backdrop of New York City,  Anderson has written a brilliantly crafted novel in which the fictional walk through the historical and it is spot on.  Anderson has even turned New York into a character in its own right, by staying true to the history of the time (NB: I used to teach New York history to my 4th graders and it was my favorite thing to teach).

One of the things I really liked about Chains were the quotes used at the beginning of each chapter. These quotes are from actual sources of the time that help situate the reader and gives the novel a real feeling of authenticity.

I don't think I could possibly recommend this book highly enough.

Laurie Halse Anderson has excellent teaching resources for Chains, including a section on how to put on a colonial tea (with some really good recipes).  You can find it HERE

This book is recommended for readers aged 10+
This book was purchased for my personal library

*I was talking to a friend about Chains and she said she didn't get the River Jordan reference, which is a reference to God's command that after the death of Moses, Joshua would lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt to freedom in the promised land by crossing the River Jordan.