I love historical fiction….seriously, if I had to choose only one genre to read for the rest of my life historical fiction would be it! I’m of two minds regarding historical fictions {or any story} that jumps timelines…sometimes it’s really well done and sometimes it just leaves me confused {as I was when reading All the Light We Cannot See}.

The Mapmaker’s Children is the story of Sarah Brown {daughter of abolitionist John Brown}, and the modern-day story of Eden Anderson. At first I wasn’t sure I was liking the story line for Anderson, I wasn’t sure where it was fitting in with the Civil War era story line. Once you realize that you’re not supposed to understand the crossover, that it is meant as a mystery, it becomes fantastic!

I loved both story lines: Brown’s for the historical aspect and Eden’s for the struggles that she was dealing with {particularly infertility}. I’ve never done any in depth study of John Brown, other than the paragraph in my high school textbooks. It was really interesting to learn different aspects of the Underground Railroad. I was, of course, familiar of the use of quilts, but McCoy tells of a whole different way in which every day items were used.

As for the overall book and writing: I really enjoyed it! The character’s were well developed, the plot was interesting, and the whole book was generally well written. The whole mystery story line was fascinating to me; having the two stories pulled together was wonderful. I was so glad that she didn’t end Eden’s story the way so many writers would have…it was much more realistic.

Definitely worth a read if you’re a lover of the Civil War! I will also be checking out Sarah McCoy’s other books from the library.

I received this book for free from the BloggingforBooks.com program, the review is entirely my own opinion. You can read my disclosure policy here.