The Misfit

Christian Heritage: The Charleston Years 1860-1861 #1

by Nancy N. Rue

Book 1 in the Christian Heritage Series, The Charleston Years. Austin, Thomas Hutchinson's great-grandson, is sent to live with relatives, but his cousins don't seem to like him. Will Austin ever find his place?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Childrens, Christian Fiction, Christian, Historical

188 pages, Paperback

First published September 14, 1997

About the author

Nancy Rue is the author of over 100 books for adults and teens, including the Christy Award-winning The Reluctant Prophet, Unexpected Dismounts and Healing Waters (with Steve Arterburn), which was the 2009 Women of Faith Novel of the Year. She travels extensively—at times on the back of a Harley—speaking to and teaching groups of women of all ages. Nancy lives on a lake in Tennessee with her Harley-ridin’ husband, Jim, and their two yellow Labs (without whom writing would be difficult).

Reviews

[Sherrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading the story of Austin Hutchinson, an 11-year-old boy, who has spent his life traveling with his abolitionist parents. But his mother has taken ill and needs some help. So they all go to Charleston, South Carolina to stay with his mother's brother. Austin just wants to make some new friends and have some fun. Austin's father almost ruins their chance for staying there. His father gets in an argument with his uncle about slavery. But things are fixed up and they get to stay. Austin even gets to drive a carriage. Does Austin get to have adventures and make new friends? You'll have to read the book to find out.

[James Hogan · Rating 4 out of 5]

So back to the Christian Heritage Series once again! This time with the Austin books! Happy that I'm now slowly but surely collecting all these books. As I read this series for the first time since I was probably 14 or 15 or so...I found it a fascinating experience as I really didn't remember a lot of the plot points. Yet I did remember the basic themes of the book, and the characters shone through just as they always do. Yes, they're a little more juvenile and ridiculous than I remember them being. But they still hold up remarkably well and I'm glad to be adding these books to my burgeoning children's book collection. We dive into the Austin series, one I always remember with fondness. Reading this series straddled my family's move to Florida and I still remember with what glee we obtained books 5 & 6 (Hostage & Escape - yes I still remember the titles!) right before we moved down to Tampa. Anyway, enough nostalgia. This series is set in the early 1860s. Yes, these are the "Civil War" books. More like precursor to Civil War, really. Anyways, I won't belabor the plot of this book except to say that I'm quite grateful we read this series. More so than almost any other books, this series hammered home the horror and gravity of the "peculiar institution" of slavery in the antebellum South. More than any dry history books, this series - in quite graphic manner - communicated the sheer grotesquerie of slavery in America in a way that let me feel the wrongness of it in my very bones. I possibly read this with a little more knowledge than when I originally read these. But even now though, I connect with these characters and this family in a way that causes me to admire the author anew. Really grateful for an author who can write about history and truth in a way that even a child can understand.

[Grace Lily Creston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every kid in elementary school needs to read this series.

These books are FORMATIVE! ALL MY Physical copies are deteriorating like old newspaper.

I want these republished in either in the Harper Collins Chronicles of Narnia glossy paperbacks or each series of 6 books gets its very own hardback.

This author provides children with the cognitive tools to see a political situation through the eyes of another.

Want to grow some minds? Want kids to love history?

THIS SERIES IS WHERE ITS AT!

[Kari McDowell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rereading a book from my childhood. I think the plot line is very compelling but there are definitely aspects that didn’t age well (racist descriptions, etc.). I think though the author was trying to be true to the times and the way even abolitionists would have thought back then. That said, it is very much from an abolitionist perspective and clearly depicts slavery as the terrible thing that it was.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story was very exciting! It's the first book in the "Christian Heritage Series, The Charleston Years".

The story starts with Austin Hutchinson asking questions. They were traveling through South Carolina in January, and looking at the columns on the buildings. His father, Wesley Hutchinson, was holding his wife's head in his lap as they rode the train. They discussed plantation buildings and Canaan Grove, the plantation they were going to. Austin noticed the edge in his father's voice. His father hated slavery, and the building they were staying in had been set on fire at one time. The train slowed as they entered Charleston, and Austin saw some friends walking together. Austin's brother, Jefferson, decided he wanted to ask questions and was about to have what his mother called a "hissy fit." Jefferson ran down the aisle of the train & hid. Austin pulled him out of his hiding place, returning to their parents. Their mother began coughing. The conductor opened a closet door where a black man was hiding!

[Laurie D'ghent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful! A great way to introduce slavery and all it's vagaries to young readers.