The Handsome Road

When I first read all three "Plantation" books by Gwen Bristow 20 years ago, I was so enthralled with them that I read them twice!! Well 20 years later and I just read all three of them again this past week. Great books that stand the test of time. Each book can be read alone but I recommend them as a series, loved them years ago and still love them!!

This book takes the story of the Larne, Sheramy and UpJohn families through the civil war and it's aftermath. The author provides a very realistic portrayal of the upper class Larnes and Sheramys and the poor UpJohns, the latter having to struggle for work as the upper class had the slave labor to do most of the work for "free". Also, the turnaround of the cultures in the aftermath of the civil war, the Larnes and Sheramys having to struggle to survive and keep their plantations while Corrie May was able to catch a coattail of a carpet bagger and his money. I have to say that "A Reader" in September 2002 summed this book up better than I could. Well worth the time to find this out of print book, I was able to get a copy from my local library. Please note, that the comment by "A Reader" in 1999 who called it smutty must be thinking about another book. This was as chaste as a book could be, and would be a good choice for a younger reader.

Two likeable protagonists, with a great-grandmother in common, brought up in two very different ways enables the reader to see life under two very different sets of circumstances. Ann Sheramy, a very decent, well-meaning Southern belle, and Corrie May Upjohn, an intelligent young woman from the wrong side of the tracks, are thrown into war in Louisiana. Ann does not mean harm to anyone, however her entire way of life forces Corrie May to never be able to rise from her position in life. The author explains how the war changes this. Slavery forces those who think they are "free" to never be able to rise above the poverty level due to the fact that no one wants to pay for labor when the job can be done for free by a slave. Just like in Roman times, this means there is a large class of people with no work and no hope of anything better. They are expendable people. This means that instead of fighting for their own rights, these "expendables" fought for the rights of the plantation owners, and fought to keep themselves in a type of "bondage". They had no "rights" to fight for. Read how the author explains this viewpoint. You will not be disappointed! Also read how Corrie May's bitterness over these circumstances leads her to make the choices she makes.

The continuation of Bristow's Plantation Trilogy is almost as good as the first. It's so interesting to follow the Upjohns and Sheramys and see how the family changes as the generations flow by. I always love anything set in the Civil War, and I liked how Corrie May was able to see some different truths that most people don't.

This is one of the best historical fiction novels I have ever read. The story of Corrie Mae UpJohn a poor white girl in the South fighting for a better life for herself. Unaware, she is a cousin to the richest family in the region, Corrie Mae fights to stay alive with everything she has. This book made me see the true hardships of the poor during the time of the civil war. This is a book I will never forget.