The Heart Calls Home (Obi and Easter Trilogy) [Hardcover]

Joyce Hansen (Author)

Book Description

Series: Obi and Easter Trilogy | Publication Date: October 1999

Obi spends his leave time from the Union Army searching South Carolina for the only family he's ever known. But will Obi be able to find Easter and Jason? Or will he join his friends who are moving west, where there is more opportunity and less racism than in the South?

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Grade 6-10-This final book of the trilogy, begun in Which Way Freedom (1987) and continued in Out from This Place (1988, both Walker), starts in the spring of 1866 in South Carolina. Obi has served in a black Union regiment and has been searching for his fellow former slaves, Easter and Jason, since the end of the war. He finally finds Easter's friends on the island of Santa Elena and learns that she has gone north to be educated as a teacher while the "scampish" Jason is performing in a traveling medicine show. Obi and Easter reconnect via letters; he begs her to return to marry him, and she counsels patience and reminds him of their people's need for teachers. Meanwhile, there is much drama and danger in this Reconstruction era. Property and lives are threatened by forces of nature, a rising black politician is assassinated, and Obi, trying to establish himself as a master carpenter, finds more work building coffins than homes. Dialect and description re-create time and place. However, unlike Out from This Place, in which a white teacher befriends Easter, this book presents a rather negative view of whites. Still, development of the main characters is good, clearly demonstrating the triumphant strength of a people united in love and caring.
Cindy Darling Codell, Clark Middle School, Winchester, KY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

More than a decade after the publication of the first books in this trilogy (Which Way Freedom, 1986; Out From This Place 1988), Hansen completes her story of Obi and Easter, two escaped slaves from South Carolina, who become separated during the Civil War. After leaving the army, Obi searches for Easter, learning that she has moved to Philadelphia to become a teacher, but intends to establish her home in the black settlement of New Canaan. While awaiting her return, Obi struggles to care for Grace, Scipio, and Araba, three orphans who fled a massacre in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, a black town destroyed by whites. Much of the story is told in letters between Obi and Easter, as Obi fights storms, disease, and bigotry while he builds a carpentry business. His love for Easter and her determination to help build New Canaan finally leads Obi to find his place in life. While the earlier novels set forth the romance more clearly, this one is just as strong in its enlivening depiction of African-American history. Hansen deftly weaves real historical events into the novel, presenting a vivid account of a budding black settlement during Reconstruction. (Fiction. 12-14) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 175 pages
• Publisher: Walker & Company (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802786367
• ISBN-13: 978-0802786364
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,979,920 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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