- Paperback: 317 pages
- Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf (6 Mar 1995)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0679421068
- ISBN-13: 978-0679421061
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 15 x 3.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
An intimate, gripping novel of the antebellum Underground Railroad, based on the true story of a valiant Philadelphia freedwoman -- the first novel we have had from the author of Black Ice, the "stunning memoir" (New York Times) of a black student's experience at a New England prep school in the 1970S.
The Price of a Child opens in the fall of 1855. A Virginia planter is on his way to assume a diplomatic post in Nicaragua, accompanied by his cook, Ginnie, and two of her children (one of whom is his). Temporarily stranded in Philadelphia when they miss their steamboat, Ginnie makes a thrilling leap of the imagination: it is the moment she has been desperately waiting for, the moment she decides to be free. In broad daylight, under the furious gaze of her master, she walks straight out of slavery into a new life -- and into a whole new set of compromising positions. We follow Ginnie as she settles with a respectable and rambunctious black family, as she reinvents herself, christens herself Mercer Gray, dodges slave catchers, lectures far and wide in the cause of abolition, and falls in love with a man whose own ties are a formidable barrier to their happiness. And we see her agonizing all the while about the baby boy she had to leave behind on the plantation, whom she is determined to rescue.
In a remarkable feat of historical empathy, Lorene Cary has created an authentic American heroine -- a woman who finds voice for the appalling loss and bitterness of her past, and who creates within herself a new humanity and an uncompromising freedom.
The Price of a Child opens in the fall of 1855. A Virginia planter is on his way to assume a diplomatic post in Nicaragua, accompanied by his cook, Ginnie, and two of her children (one of whom is his). Temporarily stranded in Philadelphia when they miss their steamboat, Ginnie makes a thrilling leap of the imagination: it is the moment she has been desperately waiting for, the moment she decides to be free. In broad daylight, under the furious gaze of her master, she walks straight out of slavery into a new life -- and into a whole new set of compromising positions. We follow Ginnie as she settles with a respectable and rambunctious black family, as she reinvents herself, christens herself Mercer Gray, dodges slave catchers, lectures far and wide in the cause of abolition, and falls in love with a man whose own ties are a formidable barrier to their happiness. And we see her agonizing all the while about the baby boy she had to leave behind on the plantation, whom she is determined to rescue.
In a remarkable feat of historical empathy, Lorene Cary has created an authentic American heroine -- a woman who finds voice for the appalling loss and bitterness of her past, and who creates within herself a new humanity and an uncompromising freedom.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
This book is fantastic. I highly recommend it as required reading for all junior high/high school American students!
Format:Paperback
In _The Price of a Child: A Novel_, author, Lorene Cary, provides a narrative account of the legacy of people who have been torn away from their families on one continent and enslaved in another. _The Price of a Child_ is about the price of human dignity for all, the descendants of both the enslaved and their captors.
Ginnie Pryor escapes from her owner, with two of her three children, while traveling in one of the northern "free" states, only to find that neither her African nor her European compatriots are free from the legacies of slavery. In this story the former slave establishes intimate relationships within the Quick family as she tries to discover the meaning of freedom and her own identity. The historical setting, the poignant theme of her missing child and Ginnie's provocative presentations to nineteenth century abolitionists provide a background for exploring realities about race relations in past and present centuries. This book has messages that endure long after the last page. It is a good foundation for many discussions about the legacies of racism that need to be addressed.
Ginnie Pryor escapes from her owner, with two of her three children, while traveling in one of the northern "free" states, only to find that neither her African nor her European compatriots are free from the legacies of slavery. In this story the former slave establishes intimate relationships within the Quick family as she tries to discover the meaning of freedom and her own identity. The historical setting, the poignant theme of her missing child and Ginnie's provocative presentations to nineteenth century abolitionists provide a background for exploring realities about race relations in past and present centuries. This book has messages that endure long after the last page. It is a good foundation for many discussions about the legacies of racism that need to be addressed.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
10 reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
...a thought provoking narrative about slavery and freedom
3 Nov 1996
Format:Paperback
In _The Price of a Child: A Novel_, author, Lorene Cary, provides a narrative account of the legacy of people who have been torn away from their families on one continent and enslaved in another. _The Price of a Child_ is about the price of human dignity for all, the descendants of both the enslaved and their captors.
Ginnie Pryor escapes from her owner, with two of her three children, while traveling in one of the northern "free" states, only to find that neither her African nor her European compatriots are free from the legacies of slavery. In this story the former slave establishes intimate relationships within the Quick family as she tries to discover the meaning of freedom and her own identity. The historical setting, the poignant theme of her missing child and Ginnie's provocative presentations to nineteenth century abolitionists provide a background for exploring realities about race relations in past and present centuries. This book has messages that endure long after the last page. It is a good foundation for many discussions about the legacies of racism that need to be addressed.
Ginnie Pryor escapes from her owner, with two of her three children, while traveling in one of the northern "free" states, only to find that neither her African nor her European compatriots are free from the legacies of slavery. In this story the former slave establishes intimate relationships within the Quick family as she tries to discover the meaning of freedom and her own identity. The historical setting, the poignant theme of her missing child and Ginnie's provocative presentations to nineteenth century abolitionists provide a background for exploring realities about race relations in past and present centuries. This book has messages that endure long after the last page. It is a good foundation for many discussions about the legacies of racism that need to be addressed.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Be ready to get sucked into a new world
6 Mar 2003
Format:Paperback
This book had me hooked by the 10th page. Knowing that this is based on a true story makes it really pop out. This is a story everybody should read. Open your eyes and join a new world.
7 of 10 people found the following review helpful
A Powerful Story, A Powerful History
8 April 2003
Format:Paperback
With her novelization of the life of a freewoman who made the terrible choice to leave one of her children behind in claiming freedom for herself and two other children, Lorene Cary takes us into a vivid land of history and humanity in pre-war Philadelphia. As a modern novel, <em>Price</em> is not only accessible, it provides engaging characters and a resonant story.
First and foremost, <em>Price</em> is the tale of Virginia (Ginnie), now named Mercer Gray, and her transition from slavery to vigilant freedom. Cary takes Mercer through a very human path, with attempts to reconcile her desires for freedom, self-sufficiency and some kind of comfort or security, with the costs of that freedom and her duty to both those that have helped her and the price that she paid for her freedom. The Quick family, a multigenerational mesh of survivors and hangers on, gives a rich field for Mercer to grow in.
<em>Price</em> stands as complement to the slavery-era narratives from which it draws. Written in a more modern English, and with the liberty to have been crafted for drama as well as truth, <em>Price</em> could very easily serve as an introduction to a genre of historical literature that can be daunting for both its content and language. Cary also has the liberty to go further into the awkward or accusatory truths that free black people of the era may have often self-censored for fear of alienating their supporters.
Chosen as the key book for the One Book, One Philadelphia project, Cary's work has the kind of Easter Eggs familiar to those who personally know where a book is set. Cary's early years and childhood in Philadelphia, and current residence here, provide another tie for the city to give back some Love.
Overall an excellent book.
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