The Daughter of Union County
by Francine Thomas Howard
The opening chapter of The Daughter of Union County really grabbed my interest. It was exciting, emotional, and set the stage for a great premise. It’s set on a plantation in Arkansas, post-Civil War, and the white owner is present for the birth of his first child from his black mistress. His wife is barren, and he is in desperate need of an heir. So, when the child is born and she looks white, he thinks on his feet in an act of desperation: he plans on bringing the child upstairs and raising her as his white daughter.
The rest of the novel, however, was an incredible disappointment. It brought in the political climate and current issues of today and tried to pass them off as realistic in the late 1800s. Not every single woman at that time period (or in this time period, for that matter) get raped. Not every single white person is unspeakably evil. There was a different type of racism that existed back then, in which white people believed in fundamental differences in the races and in black inferiority, but they saw no need for cruelty and violence. If there were a cruel racist character running around with the KKK, he certainly wouldn’t have a change of heart and feel guilty about all his wrongdoings if he was told he had black heritage. Such a revelation would probably deepen his hatred and make him even more destructive; doesn’t anyone remember Hitler’s mother?
The lack of realism in this book is shocking. I really wanted to like it, but chapter after chapter kept disappointing me. Also, the book takes place over several decades, and there are sudden jumps in time that are only casually mentioned, which feels jarring. When you think the story is in 1880 with a newborn girl, and all of a sudden the next paragraph mentions her as a six-year-old, it takes you out of the flow of the story. If you do end up liking this book, you can read more of the author’s work, because as she writes in the back pages, she takes her inspiration from family stories told through the generations.
The rest of the novel, however, was an incredible disappointment. It brought in the political climate and current issues of today and tried to pass them off as realistic in the late 1800s. Not every single woman at that time period (or in this time period, for that matter) get raped. Not every single white person is unspeakably evil. There was a different type of racism that existed back then, in which white people believed in fundamental differences in the races and in black inferiority, but they saw no need for cruelty and violence. If there were a cruel racist character running around with the KKK, he certainly wouldn’t have a change of heart and feel guilty about all his wrongdoings if he was told he had black heritage. Such a revelation would probably deepen his hatred and make him even more destructive; doesn’t anyone remember Hitler’s mother?
The lack of realism in this book is shocking. I really wanted to like it, but chapter after chapter kept disappointing me. Also, the book takes place over several decades, and there are sudden jumps in time that are only casually mentioned, which feels jarring. When you think the story is in 1880 with a newborn girl, and all of a sudden the next paragraph mentions her as a six-year-old, it takes you out of the flow of the story. If you do end up liking this book, you can read more of the author’s work, because as she writes in the back pages, she takes her inspiration from family stories told through the generations.