Steal+Away

Steal Away is an adventurous novel about two old ladies’ flashback of their story for being runaways in the 1800s in the period of slavery. It has powerful narrations from the author that captured the thoughts of how an African American felt by being disliked from white people, and how desperate people in the South wanted to escape to North.

This story is based on the retroactive of slavery on Susannah Emmons and Bethlehem Reid, who were considered as runaways. The book begins with an introduction of Susannah, an orphan who was parted from her home up North in Vermont to Virginia with her uncle and aunt. Unlike the other whites in the South she disliked slavery, she thought it was pointless and cruel, in fact she felt sorrow for them. Bethlehem, an African American who served Susannah as her slave in Virginia.

They had nothing in common except one thing… The desire of freedom and home. They wanted to break free from the cruel beatings and the horrible treatment from slavery. Then one day, they decided to escape from the South to the North for a better life and family. They wanted a life without segregation and racism.

Their adventure was treacherous. It was quite harsh for such young girls to travel from Virginia to Vermont on foot; perhaps even adults would have suffered from it. They even had a bit of an argument of where they should really head for; Canada or Vermont? There weren’t any immediate food supplies when needed, nor direct medications from clinics for flesh wounds or scratches. They even had to cut their hair and dress like men so they won’t be noticed incase people sees them. It was a dangerous journey overall, they encountered sickness and starvation. But how did they manage to get over with such obstacles? What happened in the end? Where did they go? Vermont or Canada? Were they able to “steal away?

Steal Away is one of the books that really grabbed my heart. It was a provoking novel that will leave a great impression for readers after finishing it. In fact, I think I will read it twice after my first, possibly three times. The author did a good job of narrating the story that built up tension and suspense of this novel. I will recommend this book for middle schoolers and high schoolers who are looking for adventurous novels with actions. And I will rate this book 9.5 out of 10.