The following is a professional review FWTC recently received from Jamie Polychrones:
From Whence They Came:
The Genealogical History of an African-American Family
by
Caron Barton Allen
So few families have access to such rich family history that extends back to the pre-Civil War era. From Whence They Came: The Genealogical History of an African-American Family is a family story as told to Caron Barton Allen by her maternal great-grandfather. This fictional account of her family history is based on real events, following Eular, a slave who works a plantation in Virginia and then seeks to find her lost daughters after being set free. Readers will follow Eular’s ancestors into the present day where it has become necessary to share her legacy.
Caron portrays plantation life as told through the eyes of a woman who suffered at the hands of a master. Readers will understand more clearly the conditions in which they lived in the mid-1800s, a time of great prosperity for whites and submission for African-Americans. Readers will feel the pain from women who had to give up children, split up from their lovers, all the while philosophizing about the morality of slavery in general and contemplating why God would put them in such a place.
In Eular’s world, with the threat of the Civil War on the horizon, both the slave holders and the slaves themselves fear the change that will come as a result of the upheaval. Eular’s master comes to her in the night, stealing her body for his pleasures, siring a child that he never thought he could create. Out of that miracle comes a quiet love for her that neither understands.
Once liberation is imminent, the men and women have to choose whether to stay or go. Caron depicts the struggle her ancestors must have faced in deciding to leave the only thing they had ever known while also yearning for their freedom. After being granted her freedom, Eular begins a journey so many women made after the Civil War’s end that would determine the fate of her children.
Utilizing appropriate dialect and the language of the period, Caron presents history as seen from the points of view of the slave woman, the master, the mistress, and those around them who are directly affected by the suppression in the South during the time of slavery and thereafter. Readers will become invested in Caron’s ancestors and their ability to overcome such turmoil.
From Whence They Came: The Genealogical History of an African-American Family chronicles the journey of Eular’s family through the generations of Burdettes, following the grandchildren and their families while they faced similar setbacks such as segregation, racism, and the struggle to simply stay alive in a time when they were seen as inferior. Complete with photographs from her family, descendants of Eular, Caron Barton Allen presents a gripping novel and historical narrative that demands consumption, one that is impossible to put down.
You can find From Whence They Came: The Genealogical History of an African-American Family at http://www.publishamerica.net/product13537.html.
