Passing by Samaria by Sharon Ewell Foster

Despite a few dull pages and some confusing transition between plantation life and the life of Turner's mother, Nancie, in Africa, the story is riveting and expertly told by an inspired, practiced storyteller. The details and plot are nearly flawless, except in some of the courtroom scenes, where the story sags and there's too much repetition. Hundreds of slaves are killed for participating in the uprising.

On August 22, 1831, when dozens of white people are killed in an insurrection, Turner is the assumed culprit. Foster describes the Southern hierarchy of women and slave owners and rebellious and submissive slaves with equally deft passages. Turner, the Ethiopian turned American slave, is a well-read patriot in slaves' eyes, but an ornery slave who needs to be put in his place in his mistress's eyes. Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, aims to clarify the accepted history of Nat Turner's prosecution. A book so heavily based in spiritually the way most popular books are drenched in sex deserves a place in readers’ consciousness. Readers can look forward to Sharon Ewell Foster’s continued maturation as a writer. It’s a story full of greed and betrayal, faith and courage, villains and heroes.įoster (Passing by Samaria), acclaimed author of several books she calls 'gospel novels,' writes vividly about faith and slavery in this fast-paced narrative. Passing By Samaria is sincere, ambitious and deeply felt. Part 2: The Testimony, relates the whole story-from Turner’s early slave years with his Ethiopian-born mother through the uprising, his trial, and hanging-from Nat’s perspective.

In their words are the truth of the mystery and conspiracy of Turner’s life, death, and confession. In Part I: The Witnesses, Harriet Beecher Stowe encounters a mysterious runaway slave who recounts stories of people who knew Nat Turner, both friends and enemies. His rebellion put Virginia in the national spotlight and tore a nation’s trust. Leading a small army of fellow slaves in an uprising that left more than fifty whites dead, Turner became a tragic hero and a lightning rod for abolitionists.

In the predawn hours of August 22, 1831, slave Nat Turner stormed into history with a Bible in one hand and a sword in the other. A stirring novel by an exciting new writer, Passing by Samaria beautifully shows readers the path to truth, purpose, reconciliation, and joy.The sequel to The Resurrection of Nat Turner, Part I: The Witnesses shows the story of Nat Turner through his own eyes, from growing up a slave through his violent uprising and death. On the way she meets two men who will dramatically impact her life: James, a young African-American believer determined to establish a newspaper in Chicago, and Pearl, a man with questionable intentions. With thousands of other African-Americans, Alena begins making her way north to the Promised Land of turn-of-the-century Chicago. When the discovery of a schoolmate's lynched body puts her own life in jeopardy, Alena is sent by her parents from her beloved Mississippi home.

Passing by Samaria by Sharon Ewell Foster