Behind The Lines (Point) by Isabelle Holland

by Isabelle Holland

During the New York Draft Riot of 1863, a young Irish Catholic girl helps an African American make a daring escape from an angry mob

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Historical, Civil War, Fiction

Mass Market Paperback

First published April 1, 1994

About the author

Isabelle Christian Holland (born June 16, 1920 in Basel, Switzerland — died February 9, 2002) was an author of children and adult fiction. Her father was the American Consul in Liverpool, England during WWII. She moved to America in 1940 due to the war. She wrote Gothic novels, adult mysteries, romantic thrillers, and many books for children and young adults. She wrote over 50 books in her lifetime, and was still working at the time of her death at age 81 in New York City.

Two of her novels have been made into movies:

Bump in the Night, 1991,
The Man Without a Face, 1993

Both of these novels deal with issues or allegations of pedophilia.

Reviews

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Katie is a poor Irish teenager that is sent to work as a maid in a rich household. Her father and brother both work in some docks near the sea Her mother died of an ill sickness. That is why Katie was sent to work because the money that her father and brother would earn from working at the docks wasn't enough to feed her two brothers and her only sister.

Katie worked in an English household. She hated the English because the English were the ones who made the Irish get of their land and coquered their land. At that time a war was happening between nort and south America. The war because the north wanted to free the slaves in the south. So at that time it was dangerous for black people to live in Irish teritory becausea the Irish were the ones that were mostly sent to fight for the north or Union. They hated black people because if it wasn't for them then the Irish wouldn't have to go to war.

Katie was always treated as the mistress and her mother's equal. One day during diner rich family was having a discussion about the mistress's son going to war. The mistress didn't want her son to go to war and surely die. So she asked Katie if she had an older brother. The mistress offered Katies brother three hundred dollars for going to war in her sons place. To a teenager that earned fifteen cents a day that was a gold mine.

After Katie's brother accepted the money. Katie almost would beg her brother to stay, but she remembered what her mother told her, "Everyone has to make their own decision and know that they are the right ones."

After Katie's brother left to war the mistress insulted the Irish and had no more feelings for Katie, but the mistress mother had a kind heart. She took Katie as her personal maid and taught Katie how to read and write. katie said, "One day I'll will write a book so everyone can read me book."

I give this book five stars because it's interesting and historical. It tells us how life was back then in the civil war. How people lived, how they suffered, and were bius. I recommend this book to any one that likes historical books. So read the Book!!!

[Gale · Rating 3 out of 5]

THIS WAR AND THE SLAVERY ISSUE ARE NOT OUR PROBLEM!

Katie O'Farrell is a plucky, fiery Irish girl of 14 who is In Service to a rich, pro-English family in New York City during the Civil War. Her life is a struggle in several areas: to prevent her brother from being bribed to take the place of a her master's son once the draft is held; to hide and keep a mongrel puppy she names Paddy; to keep her position which helps feed the rest of her siblings living elswhere in squalor; to avoid antagonizing the vicious cook who wants the scullery maid's place for her own niece.

Raised in Ireland to hate the English with all the justified passion of her oppressed people, Katie learns much in America about national prejudice. She realizes that the Irish are considered expendable even by English Americans and that most Americans do not care about the Blacks at all-- whether slave or free.

Will she turn her back while her own people torture and murder innocent Blacks during the New York Draft riots of 1863? Does she dare jeopardize her menial job to warn her brother of the plot and convince him NOT to be bought, not to risk his life for a war which does not concern the Irish immigrants? This is serious reading as a hot-tempered colleen comes of age in a nation bent on self-destruction. Ms Holland is not of Irish descent herself, but she lived in NY city for many years where she studied the history of immigrant groups. This aspect of the Civil War has been neglected in most American History


(May 23, 2012. I welcome dialogue with teachers.)

[Kaitlyn S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

So . . . where to start?

Maybe I am spoiled by reading exceptional writing . . . but this book was lacking in a lot of ways. A lot.

First, the writing was sub-par. And the editing wasn't much better, actually, which was surprising. There were several plot holes, and I'm pretty confident that me seeing this has nothing to do with my background as an editor. I really just think that the writing wasn't so very good. At. All.

The plot was very simple, no twists and turns, whatsoever, and the whole story line was just grating to read. If I hadn't been in reading in bed with sleep eluding me, I really wouldn't have gone much past the first few chapters. But I had nothing else, and I was desperate, people. I mean . . . if you had read this, you would know exactly how desperate I was!

The characters . . . were all lacking. I liked Mrs. Carrington, and Brian was okay. But the main character, Katie, was just one really selfish, whining girl with a terrible temper and a horrid habit of talking back. Her fascination with the dog was annoying -- and I thoroughly agreed with her father that if her siblings needed food, she ought to give it to them, and not to some mongrel. During the riots, when people are losing their lives, her worry over the dog -- and consequently the boy who is taking care of him for her -- was just plain selfish. She never would have cared about Jimmy's safety, if the dog hadn't been in the picture. And there was absolutely no character growth at all. Katie deliberately disobeyed several times, never had any consequences, and was viewed as the heroine of the day. Real life, people, would see you fired if you spoke to an employer like that.
No matter how much you needed the job.
And if you needed the job, you had better learn to be respectful and deal with what everyone else is saying -- which, by the way, happened to be true, if presented in an unkind manner -- and not go flying off in a temper tantrum because someone said something you didn't like.

I *think* this was intended to be a story for older children -- about ages 11 - 15. So, obviously, I was a bit older than the intended age. But, regardless, with the use of a few choice words, I wouldn't encourage it for younger children. And these words didn't even have a place in the story at all -- they were kinda just used as a shock value, I think. But, then again, I wouldn't recommend it for older people, either.

[Megan N · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only gave this book 3 stars because I'm not really into historical-fiction..I guess the book was okay, but most of the parts I just kind of got lost because it was boring at times.Something I did like is how the author described so well, how she started the book, and how she used lanugue they would have used in 1863 like "ma'am".

[Rachel]

This book was a good book. My mother's ancestors were Irish and I know that the Potato Famine caused a lot of problems for them. I never really knew about the New York draft riots before reading this book. Overall, it was a good book.

[Scott Williams]

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[Mary Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this boom and had never realized all of the harshness that our people even put on the new immigrants coming into the country. Really eye-opening.

[May · Rating 3 out of 5]

Youth historical fiction. Interesting plot about rich Americans who paid poor Irish immigrants to take their sons' places in the Civil War.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unique look at the life of a civilian during the Civil War: not everyone supported the war, and each side had more than one viewpoint.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was great! It gave me a fine description of what the Irish were doing in the civil war. Sometimes when she was rude and impudent reminds me of one of my friends (in a good way). =)