Publishers Weekly
- Publisher's Weekly
This novel from the author of Daddy Was a Numbers Runner portrays a slave's escape from Charleston, S.C., during the Civil War.
Library Journal
In 1971, Meriwether wrote for children a biography of Robert Smalls, a South Carolina slave who led a successful mutiny and turned a Confederate steamer over to Union forces. Meriwether returns to this fascinating historical figure, this time in a novel for adults. Her fictional incarnation of Smalls is Peter Mango, who progresses from slave to commissioned officer and, in the postwar period, to political organizer. Striving to provide a true African American perspective, Meriwether continually interjects actual personalities, events, and issues (e.g., Lincoln, Sherman's March, and Andersonville). The studied combination of fact and fiction, however, is intrusive and tends to overwhelm the interesting story line. Additionally, reader John McCants often mispronounces words. Libraries should purchase where the book is popular. -Jeanne P. Leader, Western Nebraska Community Coll. Lib., Scottsbluff
School Library Journal
YA-A marvelous Civil War story told from an African American point of view. Set in South Carolina in 1861, the tale centers around Peter Mango, a slave who has been trained as a navigator. During the shelling of the forts, Peter, along with a small group of slaves, pilots a gunboat out of the Charleston harbor directly toward the Union forces. He continues to pilot this vessel for the Union Army. He also travels to Washington to add his voice to those trying to persuade the authorities to allow blacks to fight against the Confederacy. As the years pass, he becomes a successful riverboat captain and buys his former master's home. Furthermore, he becomes a delegate to the Freedman's Convention and helps to define the constitutional issues for South Carolina. Based on the life of Robert Small, this novel portrays one man's struggle, the emotional impact of slavery, and the determination to be free at all costs. Packed with historical facts, it shows how economic, social, and political forces effected the characters' lives. The story is predictable and some of the characters are underdeveloped, but the inclusion of many little-known details of the contributions of African Americans during this time period make it a fascinating read.-Pat Royal, Crossland High School, Camp Springs, MD
Denise Perry Donavin
When Peter Mango and fellow slaves steal a Confederate steamboat, sneak their families aboard, and flee to the Union forces, their struggle for freedom has just begun. Even though Mango is decreed a hero and eventually made a captain in the Union navy, he and his friends face all the belligerence and bigotry from their "rescuers" that they faced from the slaveholders. In following the different paths Mango and his friends take, from enlistment with the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment to purchasing small farms, Meriwether tells Civil War stories that have too often been neglected. Here is a gripping, unbearably sad, yet irresistible and enriching work of historical fiction.
