Historical Fiction - Review #3

Peck, Richard. 2003. The River Between Us. New York: Dial Books. ISBN 0803727356.

Summary-
This is the story of one family at the onset of the Civil War. As they confront feelings and mindsets on both sides of the issues, they are forever changed.

Characters-
The story is told from the viewpoint of the main character, Tilly Pruitt. She finds herself confronting her own beliefs and that of society about slavery and what it means to be free. The new boarders at her mother's home are a young Creole woman and her young black companion. Understanding someone so different from her is a confusing and daunting task at times. Throughout the story, the young Creole, Delphine Duval is unlike anyone in the small town of Grand Tower, Illinois. She is confident, beautiful, and at times larger than life. Her presence challenges the Pruitt family to become more than they thought they could be.

Plot-
While the mystery surrounding Delphine Duval and her companion Calina is not revealed until the last fourth of the book, the whole of the story builds to the revelation of the mystery. Delphine was going north to escape the war surely coming to New Orleans. She knew it would forever change her situation and way of life. Hoping to make her own way in a new life far away from the attitudes and prejudices of the South, she finds refuge with the Pruitt family. They accept her, revealed secrets and all. Delphine is looking for a place where she can be who she is already.

Tilly, on the other hand, is looking for who she should be. She learns exactly what it is about her life that she likes and dislikes and is content to keep what she has. Facing her mother's rejection of her, she finds the strength to locate her brother and bring him home from the war.

As both girls nurse wounded soldiers back to health, confront their family histories, and make their way through a year of heartbreak, their lives become forever entwined.


Setting-
The story is set in Grand Tower, Illinois which is an actual town. The Mississippi River flows next to Grand Tower and separates Illinois and Missouri. In the 1860's, this was the line between the North and the South. The fact that once in Grand Tower Delphine felt safer, it technically being in the North, was surely only a psychological comfort because many of Grand Tower's citizens were Southerners at heart. To find a location that blurred the ideological and physical lines between the North and South was essential to this story.


This story depends on the Civil War just beginning for its plot. Delphine leaving New Orleans for the safer North, the boys of Grand Tower splitting between soldiering for the North and the South, and the differing viewpoints of the citizens of Grand Tower belong to the time as the war is beginning.

Theme-
The theme of the story is acceptance. It comes in many forms, acceptance of those who hurt others, physically and emotionally, acceptance of those who look and act different, acceptance of those who choose to think differently, and acceptance of those whose chosen path is different.

Style-
Mr. Peck is extremely talented at giving voice to his characters. Delphine's speech patterns are truly authentic to Creole speech. In addition, the vocabulary used is time specific, such as loblolly and moon-calfing. The dialect is clear as well, "We thought we et pretty good." (pg. 28)

Mr. Peck describes the land in detail for the reader to imagine. He describes the ridge of land called the Devil's Backbone, the Tower Rock on the Missouri side of the Mississippi, and the various plants and trees that grow in the area.

He also describes the mud and muck ever present in the towns as well as the squalid conditions of the "hospitals" in the army. It makes the reader glad of modern paving and hygiene practices.


Mr. Peck chooses to introduce this story by beginning it some 50 years after the Civil War. The only child from the generation after Tilly's has come home to see his aging parents and family, bringing his own boys with him. Grandma Tilly is telling the oldest boy the story of their family and the second chapter switches to the past events. The final chapter has Grandma Tilly finishing her tale and the grandsons and their father returning home. Along the way, the father has his own details to add to the story and a future to discuss with his oldest son.

After the story ends, Mr. Peck has a section telling more about the beginning of the war, the soldiers and soldiering, some Northern strategy, and of the society of "free people of color" of which Delphine had belonged.

Reviews-
Publishers Weekly - "The author crafts his characters impeccably and threads together their fates in surprising ways that shed light on the complicated events of the Civil War."

School Library Journal - "In the opening days of the Civil War, a genteel but worldly wise young woman and her companion step off a steamboat from New Orleans onto the dock of a provincial Illinois town. This richly told and evocatively realized novel tells how the strangers are taken into the Pruitts' home (and into their hearts), changing all of the characters' lives forever."

Kirkus Reviews -"Peck writes beautifully, bringing history alive through Tilly's marvelous voice and deftly handling themes of family, race, war, and history. A rich tale full of magic, mystery, and surprise."

2004 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction

Connections-
*Grand Tower and Cairo, Illinois are real places. Use the Internet to find maps and learn more about these locales.

*Find and read about the history of New Orleans.

*Read more about the Creole people.

*People used many natural remedies for illness. Learn more about some of these. Visit a natural foods health store to learn more.

*Read other stories about the Civil War experience.

• The Boys' War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk about the Civil War by Jim Murphy. ISBN 9780395664124
• Civil War (an Eyewitness Book) by John Stanchak. ISBN 0789463024
• Soldier's Heart by Gary Paulsen. ISBN 0553526111 Note: This is for older readers.

*In The River Between Us, Delphine and Tilly nurse sick and wounded soldiers. Clara Barton was a real woman who did the same for many, many soldiers in the Civil War. Read about her accomplishments during the war and her life's work after the Civil War.