The Vanishing Woman (Underground Railroad Book 1)

In 1848 Ellen Craft dressed as a white man in need of medical attention and her husband William acting as her slave, escaped slavery from their work places in Macon, Georgia. Their fleeing to the north had many near haps in the four days it took. Their journey to total freedom had many close calls of being captured and sent back.

I found this book very interesting. Although the book included some very sad ordeals for the characters, the author also injected some humor and showed various segments of the characters' personalities.Each time I put my Kindle aside to do other things (or to charge its battery), I always looked forward to reading more of the book.I think I found only two typos in the whole book and was pleased that the author did not find it neccessary to include foul language.

Well paced, mostly nonfictional story of a slave couple's (actually 2, the 2nd being a brother and sister) harrowing journey to freedom and struggle to remain free. Enlightening work.

Haven’t quite finished the book yet, but I am finding it very interesting! It’s a fast read and the author’s style flows seamlessly. Be aware that there are a lot of characters to keep track of and I actually keep a post-it note nearby to write down names as new characters are introduced. At this point, I can say I will likely read the other books in the series. However, one issue I have with the author is that he uses the word “y’all” in the singular. Having been born and raised in the South, that drives me crazy and takes away a bit from the authenticity of the novel. A true Southerner NEVER uses the word “y’all” unless referring to at least two people. It is used only in the plural. A little thing to most people I’m sure, but it drives me crazy! Out of curiosity, I actually did a little digging to see if I could learn where the author was born but, although I’m sure it’s posted somewhere, I was unable to find out. Good book...probably written by a Yankee. 😄

“The Vanishing Woman” by Doug Peterson is a brilliant fictionalization of the true story of the escape of two slaves from Macon, GA in 1849. The main protagonists, Ellen and William Craft, were an unusual young couple. Though belonging to different masters, they met and fell in love at a “corn husking contest". Ellen was the half-sister of Eliza Collins, the wife of a well-to-do doctor. Eliza was a few years older than Ellen, who was given to her as a wedding present. Although always made aware of her enslaved status, Ellen was given some latitude in the city, and allowed to train and work independently as a seamstress. William was a skilled cabinet maker, who worked as an employee of a craftsman in town; he was actually allowed to keep some of his earnings, which provided the resources for their extended travel via train, coach and steamship from Georgia to Pennsylvania.Due to Ellen’s extremely light complexion (she was the daughter of the mulatto cook of her former master, her and Eliza’s father) the couple decided that she and William would travel as a young, ailing white man and his attendant. Her disguise consisted of men’s clothing she made herself, as well as bandages around her face, a sling on her right arm, and green-tinted spectacles. As almost all “Underground Railroad” stories are bound to be, full of cliff-hangers and narrow scrapes, this story continuously builds in intensity and suspense. It as masterfully told; although the author explains that the basic facts are accurate, he had to flesh out a good part of the back story. This is done especially well with flashbacks to times prior to the main plot line, which are also full of excitement and interest. The characterizations are drawn with great sensitivity, the dialog excellent, and the overall impact of the narrative is gripping. This book is both historically accurate, and full of humanity.

Spent several late nights in finishing this book! Keeps you engaged til the end. I highly recommend this for the exciting story but also the historical background.

I knew of the story without the details. Mr. Peterson added the harrowing details with such vivid clarity. Choosing to not use a linear storyline made the telling even more heart rending.Thoroughly recommend. I'll find a light read in between as I continue the series. 10 🌟

Wish there was no need for this to be true. The story is almost fantastical in its telling and I couldn't put it down. Those times were grievously harsh to slaves and this novel educates the reader without going into gory detail. Language is decent, events are realistic. How can you improve excellence?Read this. Learn and feel. Then value freedom and human respect on a different level because Peterson showed you a reality we came from.And may we never return to it.Inspirational in its telling for all ages.

Peterson weaves historical fact with strong inference and complex characters, creating a tale that is more engaging than dry narrative but all the more harrowing for being true.The child of a slave and her master, Ellen Craft was born with skin as pale enough to seem white. Pale enough that she and her husband William hatched a plan to escape the plantation and travel to the northern USA disguised as owner and slave. Successfully impersonating a white woman for the many days it would take to reach the North would be tricky enough, but a white woman travelling with a male slave would stand out almost as much as two slaves travelling without a master; so Ellen must also pretend to be a man.Peterson bases his novel on the true story of William and Ellen Craft’s 1848 escape from Georgia and the subsequent attempts to recapture them. While the only detailed source is from William’s perspective, Peterson chooses to narrate the story from Ellen’s; while this does—as Peterson states in his author’s note—mean that a larger amount of the story is imagination rather than fact, moving the focus to the experience of a black woman forced to impersonate a white man creates both a more visceral feeling of the struggle and opens up more complex perspectives on racism.This slant toward an engaging story of daring escape from slavers rather than a strict autobiography is further evident in Peterson’s use of multiple timelines, interweaving scenes on their journey to freedom with significant moments from their pasts that put previous choices in new contexts. While this does mean that the reader might not experience quite the same tension in some scenes because they already know Ellen is free later, it does more intimately connect specific incidents of oppression in the past to those in the present, strongly evoking the power of racism to stain entire an entire life.However, this novel is not short on tension. Although Peterson might have already confirmed Ellen is free and (physically) unharmed at a later date, this does not usually tell the reader how she evaded a threat or at what cost. Thus knowing that Ellen Craft died many years later as a free woman doesn’t remove the sense of constantly being on the verge of discovery that pervades many of the scenes.This air of relentless threat is compounded by Peterson’s use of parallel narratives about Ellen’s relatives and other characters close to her, about whose fate the reader is unsure as they go in and whose ultimate fate might either be unknown or most unfortunate. Complementing these threads from the points-of-view of slaves are those from the perspective of slave owners (or wannabe slave owners), which offer the reader some escape from the bleakness by showing bad people failing yet also add tension by showing how close they are on Ellen’s heels.Ellen is a well-crafted and highly sympathetic protagonist, defined not by exceptional intelligence, unique skills, or other things often make a protagonist better than others when faced with challenge but rather by her refusal to give up and accept her place as worse than others. While this stamina of spirit is a major asset, it also causes issues; for example, her refusal to consummate marriage until both of them are free because the children would be born slaves puts immense strain on her relationship with William.William and the other significant supporting cast are also fully realised people rather than figures in a historical moment. While this nuance personalises the narrative, avoiding the simplicity of monolithic black slaves vs. white oppressors, it also makes those white people who feel they are the ones wronged by ungrateful slaves seem all the more flawed because it is clear it is not simple what everyone thought.Overall, I enjoyed this novel greatly. I recommend it to readers seeking a tense historical thriller that also portrays experiences of being black in Nineteenth Century America.

If you are interested in the slavery era then this book will hold your interest. I found it a good read, well researched and told a true story of a families escape from slavery and able to spread their story far and wide.

What a fantastic book. History is full of bad deeds and mistakes, but this is what we build our future on. This book should be read in all schools.History, truth, black slaves abolitionists, they are all part of our history.

Was a good book to read being a true story made me think a lot of the hardships that at that time the people of colour had to go through

Great read.