BOUND

Author: Sally Gunning ISBN: 0061240257 4/2008 HISTORICAL Publisher: WILLIAM MORROW
Time Period: 1756 - 1765

Alice Cole barely remembers when she was not "bound," first to the kindly Morton family, and now to their newly married daughter Nabby, her companion since childhood. But Nabby's marriage is not happy, and soon Alice finds herself torn between her new master and her old friend. With no one to turn to, Alice runs away to Boston. There she meets a sympathetic widow named Lyddie Berry and her lawyer companion, Eben Freeman. Impulsively stowing away on their ship to Satucket on Cape Cod, Alice finds employment making cloth with Lyddie. Yet as Alice soon discovers, her newfound freedom—as well as gratitude, friendship, and trust—has a price far higher than she ever imagined.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

BOUND begins its story with the sad journey of young Alice Cole, who, after a rough sea crossing, loses all of her family but her father. Out of necessity he places her into indentured servitude at the tender age of seven.

Luckily for Alice her first master, Mr. Morton, takes good care of her, raising her alongside his own daughter and keeping to the rules of her nine year indenture contract. But when Nabby, Mr. Morton's daughter, is married, Alice is gifted as a wedding present to Nabby and her husband, Emery Verley. However, Emery has his own thoughts on what the comely, now fifteen year-old Alice's purpose is to be in his household, and it's definitely not written into her contract. Cruelly abused, frightened and heartsick, Alice soon runs away, stowing away on a ship bound for Boston.

Lonely and sick in this new place, Alice finds herself taken under wing by a sympathetic and kindly widow who runs a local boarding house. Alice does all she can to stay within the widow's good graces and make her stay beneficial for the both of them, but the nightmares, abuse and terror of her previous indenture, not to mention the consequences that now come from it, makes Alice's new dream of a place to be safe and happy seem all the more remote.

Sally Gunning writes a compelling, emotional tale about a form of slavery we often forget about and a practice that is sadly still prevalent in today's world—the binding of one person by contract to another in order to work off a debt, a debt oftentime impossible to repay. But BOUND isn't just Sally's story. It is one of so many like her who were held in sometimes cruel indenture during America's turbulent pre-Revolutionary War days, and yet were such an integral part of the fabric and foundation of this country.

Gunning mixes both the politics of the times with Sally's story, as well as giving us all a lesson on exactly what freedom means and the differences between indentured servitude and life-long slavery. It's fast paced, easily read prose draws you in from the start, and it's not long before you've taken the character of young Alice straight into your heart. Alice's portrayal from a young, naive child of seven to a more mature sixteen year-old with hopes and dreams for a better life, is more than aptly told. You almost want to stand up and cheer when at one point in her story, with the help of those who care for her, Alice learns to stand up for herself and overcomes odds that seem so unfairly stacked against her.

I will give this much away about this story—it does have a happy ending, in a way. Yet Gunning leaves enough untold for the reader to speculate as to where Alice will go from that ending. I have my own theories, hopes and dreams for her, and perhaps somewhere down the road Ms. Gunning will revisit with Alice and I'll find out for myself just how close I came.

In a nutshell, BOUND is simply a very, very good book and well worth the read.

Nancy Davis