Where Shadows Go [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Eugenia Price (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1993

When her friend, the famous English actress and fierce abolitionist Fanny Kemble Butler, pays a call, plantation owner's wife Ann Fraser begins to realize how immoral the institution of slavery is. (Historical Fiction).

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Price's 38th novel is like molasses--treacly and slow. The second book in the Georgia Trilogy that began with Bright Captivity follows the nearly charmed life of John and Anne Couper Fraser from 1825, when the couple leaves London to return to Anne's (and Price's) home on Georgia's St. Simons Island, to 1839. Surrounded by the natural beauty of the family's coastal plantation, John overcomes his abhorrence of slavery to become a respected planter. He and Anne adore each other, raise their children and ponder the problems that seem to plague everyone but them. Late in the tale, friendship with the English actress/abolitionist Fanny Kemble Butler causes Anne to consider for the first time the moral implications of her lifestyle. When tragedy finally touches her, faith and the support of her children provide Anne with the fortitude to carry on. While Price's simplistic storytelling skills have sufficed in previous novels, this one disappoints: the characters that really bring it to life, the Butlers, appear too little and too late. Tedious pacing and insufficient dramatic action make this a saccharine narrative unredeemed by Price's obvious feeling for her characters and their milieu. Doubleday and Christian Herald Book Clubs.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Those in the author's longtime and considerable following will be eagerly awaiting this second book (after Bright Captivity, 1991) in the trilogy concerned with the fortunes of the Coupers, Frasers, and other prime families of Georgia's St. Simons Island in the early 19th century. (The Frasers et al. did truly exist--in her cheerfully discursive afterword, Price offers a cemetery tour.) But others--those not of the Price fan-club persuasion--may find the 600-plus pages of expository converse, with sentimental postures, more than a bit wearying in spite of the careful research concerning the area's history. The story, set in St. Simons from 1825 to 1839, is mainly of the devoted marriage of Anne Couper and John Fraser, their children and relatives: Anne's parents, her brilliant brother, James; John's brother, Dr. William; and a visiting Scots cousin, Willy. Accompanying the latter to the States is English actress Fanny Kemble, an ardent abolitionist, whose handsome, shallow husband will come to own a plantation nearby. Meanwhile, slavery is much on the minds of everyone. John's hatred of slavery almost diverts him from a career as a planter; others, like Anne's father, have twinges of unease, but that's all, while Anne wonders whether her ``friend,'' the half-white (this is emphasized) slave Eve, could really be a friend in spite of her protestations of devotion (``She be my life''). Emotions all around are slowly saute‚d: Anne worries that John won't be happy as a planter; Willy carries a torch for Anne; there are marriages and sad buryings; then a steamer explodes, and a murder is committed offstage. Events here do unfold slowly, but, worse, there seems to be no inner animation behind the stilled speech. Strictly for the large following--a picture (postcard) perfect view of plantation life on beautiful St. Simons Island. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 646 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; Lrg edition (May 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385423136
• ISBN-13: 978-0385423137
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,857,110 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dealing with death, August 4, 2000

By 

Mary Coldsnow (Raytown, Mo. USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Where Shadows Go (Georgia Trilogy) (Mass Market Paperback)

Without realizing the focus of the book, I found the beginning a bit depressing. Eugenia Price, though, showed the mercy of God toward those who mourn. Anne Couper Fraser is prepared through the grief of others to face her own personal tragedy. She grows in selflessness as the book progresses, gaining strength from God and learning to comfort others. Excellant read on the whole with information divulged through dialog, not lengthy thought sessions.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I loved it!, August 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Where Shadows Go (Georgia Trilogy) (Mass Market Paperback)

I found the love between Anne and John to be a thing of beauty and maybe something we don't know much about now-a-days. Devoted love that puts the other person first is not emphasized much in our new modern age! I would like to have seen John's struggle with slavery and/or the military come to some resolution but the scene of his death left me in tears. It reminded me to appreciate my own family members while they are here. I would have no problem at all recommending this book to anyone looking for a nice long novel to cuddle into a comfy chair with. Thanks Eugenia Price!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Sequel, December 27, 2001

By 

L. Davis "[e-mail]" (Tulsa, OK USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Where Shadows Go (Georgia Trilogy) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is the sequel to "Bright Captivity", which began the saga of Anne Couper Fraser, her marriage to John Fraser of England, and her years spent in London. This books opens with the return of the Frasers to St. Simons Island. If you are have read other Eugenia Price books, you will be re-acquainted with the McKays of Savannah, the Goulds of St. Simons and others. The Coupers were one of the noble families of the Georgia Coast in the mid-1800's. Anne's life is one of great love and great sorrow. I came to love her as a sister throughout the trilogy. Sometimes I wanted to shake her -- mostly I wanted to sit and have a long talk. You will also enjoy her relationship with her "Eve", whose devotion to Anne is complete. I highly recommend this book, and the entire Georgia Trilogy, to fans of Eugenia Price and anyone else who enjoys fiction based on real-life people from our past. I hated for the third book to end.