Why a Booktrail?
1838: In a nation divided by prejudice, everyone must take a side.
The Floating Theatre
What you need to know before your trail
When young seamstress May Bedloe is left alone and penniless on the shore of the Ohio, she finds work on the famous floating theatre that plies its trade along the river. Her creativity and needlework skills quickly become invaluable and she settles in to life among the colourful troupe of actors. She finds friends, and possibly the promise of more …
But cruising the border between the Confederate South and the ‘free’ North is fraught with danger. May is compelled to transport secret passengers, under cover of darkness, across the river and on, along the underground railroad. But secrets like these are hard to keep and danger is getting ever closer
And to save the lives of others, she must risk her own …
Travel Guide
Ohio
Starting off in Cincinatti, the shocking beginning leads to a whole host of adventures of the floating theatre and opens up the gap between the Confederate South and the ‘free’ North – this river lies at its border and so is very important as setting and the centre of the intrigue of the whole novel. For visiting the area, the freedomcenter.org is the best place to start.
Many of the small towns and places the boat docks are fictional but the importance of the river during this time should not be underestimated – this was literally the line between the North and South at this time – the North was the free states and the South held the slave ones. The American Civil War was to take place only twenty years after the events in the book. There really was a boat called the Moselle which sank in the river in 1838.
The themes and events in this book are real and the setting of a floating theatre an ideal place to showcase the time and period – for what ever is happening on stage, the real action is taking place outside in the world. No one knows what is going on and what confederation and slavery really means. But this book looks not at the abolitionists who seem to be just as bad as those who support slavery with each side turning to dirty tactics to win the war. Centre stage of this novel is the slaves themselves and the innocent people who must either hide them or help them escape.
The theatre is an interesting setting – From seamstress to costume maker to pianist on another showboat, there is a lot of showboat facts and the atmosphere, if the world were not such a dangerous place would actually be quit interesting! The boats and the adventures on board flow and meander like the bends of the river.
Booktrailer Review
Susan: @thebooktrailer
This is a very unique premise and setting for a story. The daily life on a showboat floating on the Ohio river, gives a real insight into the coastal small villages and the people who worked on the border of such a political divide. I’ve read other titles about what went on during the times of the underground railway and found this to be a unique angle with the boat moving up and down the river so you could see changes in nearby villages as well as (political ) currents.
The book does focus more on the theatre than on the serious issues of the time though and so it reads quite charmingly and I was enthralled by life on the steamer, the daily rehearsals and shows. The insight into each new town they stopped at and the small insular world on board which mirrored life outside.
This is a fascinating if dark time of history and the fact that the river was so symbolic in the fight and the story did make me want to go and read more. The story is seen and told through May’s eyes, the seamstress on the boat and so her naivety and coming of age story take centre stage so to speak.
And that cover – seemingly hand stitched – was gorgeous.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Floating Theatre
Author/Guide: Martha Conway Destination: Cincinatti, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana Departure Time: 1838
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