The Red Heart
by JAMES ALEXANDER Thom

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Book Reviews of The Red Heart

Book Review: Fantastic historical fiction.
Summary: 5 Stars

This novel is based on the true story of Frances Slocum who at age 5 was carried off by Delaware Indians right in front of her family in 1778. Her family searched for nearly sixty years until they finally found her- the widow of a Miami chief who could not speak any English or even remember her given name except for Slocum. Thom details what occured in the sixty years before that reunion. Mostly, it is a story of young Frances adapting to her new life, her growth into womanhood, and her experiences with the tragedies that occur to her Indian people as the Americans take their lands and destroy the entire fabric of their lives. Thom also details the Slocums' attempts to find their lost child during that same period. Thom does a great job of capturing what must have been the emotions when that lost sister met her Slocum siblings for the first time in six decades. Truly poignant.

My only complaint about this book is Thom's rather simplistic portrayals of the Indians and whites. With the exception of the Quaker Slocum family, every white in this book is a brutish lout; and with the exception of a couple drunken brutes, the Indians are all portrayed as wonderful people. The historical reality was a little more complex, and even most children's books on the subject of Indian captivities present a more even-handed picture. For instance, historically the Indians, who carried off little Frances, also carried off two other children who they later killed for crying too much, and that they had killed a "boy" on the Slocum farm. Thom doesn't ignore that the Indians also took other captives with Frances or that they had killed someone at her family's farm, but he has the other captive being ransomed back to the whites, and he has turned that killed "boy" into a soldier. I think that is being a little dishonest for sake of "political correctness," which is annoying.

Summary of The Red Heart

Action & Adventure Books

• Books > Subjects > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction
• Family Saga
• Historical