The Mapmaker's Children: Review

The Mapmaker's Children, by Sarah McCoy is like getting two books for one.  Half the book takes place in modern times, following the failing marriage and newly forming relationships of Eden Anderson as she gets used to her new town of New Charlestown, West Virginia.  The other half of the book follows the efforts of Sarah Brown as she tries to help the Underground Railroad as much as she can.  While the first few chapters of the book have the reader wondering how the two stories are connected, soon the pieces start connecting, until the puzzle is totally completed by the end of the book.

I really enjoyed this book.  It was historical enough that I felt like I learned more about the Underground Railroad, as well as the abolitionists that helped, without actually feeling like I was learning.  I really liked the puzzle aspect of the book, trying to figure out exactly how everything fit together.  While the changing of perspective was annoying sometimes, it was only because every time I felt like I was getting somewhere in one story, it switched to the other, making it hard to put down! The emotions in the book were very real, too.  Both women had very real personal challenges that brought raw emotions in them.  Their romantic relationships both suffered from these challenges, but also made both women realize that they were still worthy of, and capable of love.  I would highly recommend this book to romantics that like a little historical twist.

* I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.