Sarah Brown is the daughter of abolitionist John Brown. After suffering an illness as a child, Sarah is unable to bear children so all of her passion and energy is poured into her father's work in the underground railroad. As a talented artist, Sarah incorporates symbols in her paintings, which in turn are maps for the underground railroad. She becomes one of the Underground Railroad's leading mapmakers. As tensions rise and the country is heading for the Civil War, Sarah's work becomes more important, but she has to make difficult sacrifices along the way.
Fast forward over 150 years later and Sarah's story is running parallel with that of Eden Anderson, a modern day woman struggling with infertility. Eden and her husband Jack have just purchased an old home in the suburbs of Washington D.C., and Eden discovers the porcelain head of a doll in an old root cellar of the house. This doll is the link to the underground railroad and the history of what happened in that home and to Sarah.
Both Eden and Sarah share the same struggles in not being able to bear children. I enjoyed Sarah's story much more than Eden's story. Eden was a difficult character for me to like. All in all, though the story of Sarah carries the day and makes this book an enjoyable one to read. The story of Sarah is based on the real Sarah Brown which makes the telling all the more interesting.
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.
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