"My brother killed Abraham Lincoln. That is my weight, my shame. While he remained at large, I was held captive in my home. I should have told the soldiers who came with guns drawn and bayonets at the ready this true thing: I might have stopped him, for I harbored him and kept his secrets. I was a pie safe locked tight and guilty as he." Asia Booth Clarke was twenty-nine years old and pregnant when Union soldiers and Federal detectives stormed her Philadelphia home in search of her assassin-brother. John Wilkes Booth's older sister had grown up in one of America's most notoriously troubled but spectacularly acclaimed acting families. "Johnny" and Edwin, her handsome brothers, were the matinee idols of the era. When John Wilkes Booth's crime left the nation in furious mourning and the Booth family under a dark cloud of accusation, it was Asia who bore the brunt. Booth's Sister was inspired by Asia Booth Clarke's personal memoirs. Author, Civil War scholar and storyteller Jane Singer has masterfully imagined the family dynamics and intimate dilemmas that led to one of America's most fateful crimes and left a sister's life in shambles.
Booth's Sister
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2.5 out of 5 stars
53 reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Historically Inaccurate to an Incredible Degree
25 Mar 2010
By K. Vaughan
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Kindle Edition
While I realize this book is the author's re-creation of what she believed Asia Booth's life was like, the imposition of 21'st century lifestyles and her beliefs onto a character who lived in mid-1800's America was so awful I could not finish reading it. Although impoverished, and at a time when most families could typically only afford a Bible in their home, we are to believe that in John & Asia Booth's childhood home, "Books were stuffed under chairs and tables...piled high as a man's head."
When there was little to eat, we are expected to believe that only Johnnie and Asia Booth are working the farm ("I don't mind the work, Gillie. It makes me muscled.") while others sit around getting educated, acting as an audience. ("The Negroes are godly good folk and will be made wiser by the verses.")
The book plays into an awful stereotype: "The Negroes would rather be an audience than farm."
Finally, the book seemed the author's way of stuffing in as many quotes from other sources as she could, which I found very distracting. As stated above, I could not finish the book - an extremely rare occurrence for me.
When there was little to eat, we are expected to believe that only Johnnie and Asia Booth are working the farm ("I don't mind the work, Gillie. It makes me muscled.") while others sit around getting educated, acting as an audience. ("The Negroes are godly good folk and will be made wiser by the verses.")
The book plays into an awful stereotype: "The Negroes would rather be an audience than farm."
Finally, the book seemed the author's way of stuffing in as many quotes from other sources as she could, which I found very distracting. As stated above, I could not finish the book - an extremely rare occurrence for me.
27 of 33 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Transporting!
6 Aug 2008
By Moah Anboss
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
I love this book. Jane Singer is an amazing writer. Often I would go back and slowly re-read a sentence just to savor it. Particularly compelling is the multi-dimensional relationship between Asia and John first as children then, as innocence wanes, adults. I found myself wanting to know more about John and his motivations but that's for another book (Hopefully one by Ms. Singer) The histrionics of the father were amusing but I would have liked to get to know him not always "on". With Asia, I felt I knew her so well by the end of the book: her bravery, her fears, her playfulness, beautifully revealed by the author. All in all it's a wonderful story and I found myself wanting more.
Moah
Moah
21 of 26 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Exquisitely Written
30 July 2008
By J. Rubiner
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
I see another review for this title seems to have neglected to notice that it is fiction. And it's beautiful fiction. Much of the writing has the lilt and imagery of poetry. It's a wonderfully imagined story and chock full of fascinating history. All around, a great read.
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