Sunday, November 14, 2004
A Stolen Life by Jean Louise Curry
A Stolen Life is a fictional account of a girl who is spirited away from her home and position in Scotland and sold as a bond servand in the United States.
Jamesina is a fiesty teenager who has a vision of the death of her father and brothers. The death of her father and younger brother are confirmed which leads her to believe that her older brothers, soldiers in America, are also dead. These deaths make Jamesina the heir to the Mackenzie of Grudidh lands. Since her father fought against the King of England, having a young woman as heir is a dangerous position.
Jamesina goes into hiding as a male apprentice but her disguise gets her into unforseen trouble when she is kidnapped by men who will sell her as an indentured servant. Jamesina is soon revealed as a girl and separated from the boys who have also been spirited away. After a long journey to America, Jamesina and two young men are sold to a plantation owner in Virginia. Slowly they become part of the household and learn of the laws governing indentured servants and the legal recourse that could be available to them in the courts. Jamesina can read and write and so prepares letters to the judges of her area. She gets help from a slave who also writes a letter which reaches the proper authorities. Jamesina loses her letters in a scuffle and is resold to a newly released servant who is moving even farther away from the city and plantations.
Trials and tribulations abound. Things look bleak when Jamesina and her companion are captured by Cherokees. Will Jamesina end her days as a slave in a Cherokee village, go back to the life of an indentured servant, or somehow find her way back to her family?
Jamesina is a fiesty teenager who has a vision of the death of her father and brothers. The death of her father and younger brother are confirmed which leads her to believe that her older brothers, soldiers in America, are also dead. These deaths make Jamesina the heir to the Mackenzie of Grudidh lands. Since her father fought against the King of England, having a young woman as heir is a dangerous position.
Jamesina goes into hiding as a male apprentice but her disguise gets her into unforseen trouble when she is kidnapped by men who will sell her as an indentured servant. Jamesina is soon revealed as a girl and separated from the boys who have also been spirited away. After a long journey to America, Jamesina and two young men are sold to a plantation owner in Virginia. Slowly they become part of the household and learn of the laws governing indentured servants and the legal recourse that could be available to them in the courts. Jamesina can read and write and so prepares letters to the judges of her area. She gets help from a slave who also writes a letter which reaches the proper authorities. Jamesina loses her letters in a scuffle and is resold to a newly released servant who is moving even farther away from the city and plantations.
Trials and tribulations abound. Things look bleak when Jamesina and her companion are captured by Cherokees. Will Jamesina end her days as a slave in a Cherokee village, go back to the life of an indentured servant, or somehow find her way back to her family?
# posted by JJ @ 4:58 PM 
