The Mapmaker’s Children – Sarah McCoy

As if aligning stars, author Sarah McCoy takes historical fact and weaves it into a fictional story-within-a-story in The Mapmaker’s Children. Tennessee is rich with Civil-war era history, and I’ve driven by so many houses with the temptation to stop and learn their secrets. At the edge of my consciousness, it seems like I might hear the whispers between the house and my soul. Reading my mind, McCoy starts her exquisite novel with such a house.

The characters in The Mapmaker’s Children are almost tangible. Sarah Brown shines as the daughter of John Brown. Although I’d never heard of her before reading this book, she’s now a huge part of my Underground Railroad schema. I’d also never heard of Slave Quilt codes or pictorial maps, despite their apparently abundant use in bringing slaves to freedom. How could I have survived all this time without learning about the contraband that porcelain dolls could carry back in those days? It’s all so very fascinating.

One line stood out to me from the beginning of the story. One of the early characters said, “You don’t know the first thing about real love until you have children of your own.” In striking contrast, Sarah Brown was unable to conceive. While I don’t necessarily agree with that quote, I will admit that becoming a parent truly opened my eyes to many types of love: sacrificial, unconditional, and selfless. For me, experiencing motherhood was a necessary step in appreciating my own mother. Another quote struck my heartstrings….”There are worse things than dying…like being alive and unwanted.” Thankfully, women like Sarah Brown tried to rid the world of that terrible fate.