A Partial Sun

The Tinsmith's Apprentice #1

by Lawrence Reid Bechtel

In 1852, after much searching through the Black districts of Petersburg, Virginia, the amateur historian Charles Campbell finally located Isaac Granger, a formerly enslaved man who worked for the late Thomas Jefferson. Though disinterested at first in sharing his memories, Isaac was at last persuaded to tell the full story of his time in Philadelphia as a young man in the early 1790s. It was supposed to have been a simple story: he would apprentice with a Quaker tinsmith and then return to Monticello to produce tinware for sale in such abundance that Jefferson might pay down his plantation's crippling debts. But Isaac was impressionable and more thoughtful than Jefferson knew. Philadelphia was a big city, home to a thriving African-American community, and Isaac met all manner of characters: Billey Gardner, a formerly enslaved man who worked for James Madison; the dangerous and charismatic Dr. Cornelius Sharp; the Reverent Rich Allen; the hateful Daniel Shady, who could not abide that Isaac should learn tinsmithing at his side as an equal; the tinsmith's daughter, Rachel, who taught Isaac to read. Isaac got himself into difficulties, contemplated his place in the world, and was challenged to do more than just serve. Conflict was inevitable.

398 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2019

Reviews

[Erica Witsell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The year is 1791. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson sends his slave, Isaac Granger, to begin a tinsmith apprenticeship in Philadelphia. Lawrence Bechtel’s novel, A Partial Sun, imagines this young man’s life as he travels to the nation’s capital to learn the tinsmith trade with a Quaker family. With arresting prose and engaging story-telling, Bechtel deftly probes the complicated nature of identity, freedom, prejudice, and oppression. At a time when many Americans are examining racial injustice and its fraught history, A Partial Sun offers the reader a well-researched and beautifully-wrought glimpse of our nation’s early years and sheds new light on the hypocrisy of Jefferson’s famous declaration that all men are created equal. This wonderful, thoughtful novel had me hooked from the first chapter. I can’t wait to rejoin Isaac in the next book of the Tinsmith Apprentice Series, That Dazzling Sun.

[Domenica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very different from anything I've ever read before. Very well written and researched. Simple style that draws you in and keeps you reading. I love the development of the main character and the realistic depictions of life as a slave -- and the fact that a variety of slave lives are depicted. Great read.

[Patricia M. Meier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thomas Jefferson has always been a mystery to me. Here was a man on integrity, great intelligence and of a gentle nature---YET he owned slaves. He owned house slaves as well as field slaves whose bondage was complete. A Partial Sun, looks at this phenomena from a young, gifted, slave’s point of view. Isaac Granger Jefferson and his family were treated to the luxury of having their own cabin to live in and to having responsibilities at Monticello that would normally be assigned to white men. When Jefferson goes to Philadelphia to be President Washington’s Secretary of State, he takes Isaac with him and sets him up as an apprentice to a prestigious tinsmith. His motives however, have little to do with Isaac’s well-being and more to do with using Isaacs trade to earn money for Monticello. As Isaacs tutelage continues, he learns much more that the art of being a tinsmith; he learns the value of self-worth.
Bechtel addresses the subject of benevolent slavery very delicately but clearly. Isaac, as well as the Hemmings boys gained a virtual freedom; yet it was not complete. He refers to it not only as the title suggests, A Partial Sun, as in the sunlight of freedom, but compares the fine filament of bondage these boys have and compares it to the iron chains of the field slave. Bondage is bondage.
I now see Thomas Jefferson in three-dimension. Noble, kind, intelligent, but flawed. Benign ignorance?? By looking at history from different vantage points, Bechtel illustrates the truly complicated issues of the time. I loved reading this book and highly recommend it to anyone with historical curiosity.

[Marcy Guenette · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the year 1847, the Rev. Charles Campbell sets out to interview and record the life story of Isaac Granger Jefferson, an elderly Negro blacksmith now living in Petersburg, Virginia. Once the property of Sir Thomas Jefferson at Monticello, Isaac was chosen at age 15 to apprentice as a tinsmith in the great northern metropolis of Philadelphia. He has many adventures and misadventures along the way, some quite humorous.

Philadelphia opens Isaac's mind to many possibilities previously unseen. To begin, Isaac lives in a house with his white mentor and his family and is tutored by their daughter - who would have thought that possible? He rooms with three other apprentices, all white. He learns to read and write, which greatly increases his worth. Philadelphia is a predominantly Quaker city, and the Quaker's are anti-slavery. Isaac meets many free blacks. Will he remain loyal to Jefferson?

Suitable for young adults, I can envision this book being used in middle or high school classrooms to promote dialogue about race discrimination and class struggles. This is the first book in "The Tinsmith's Apprentice" trilogy about Isaac's life, and a fitting complement to "America's First Daughter" by Stephanie Dray, which is a story about Jefferson's daughter Patsy. I look forward to the next installment in Isaac's life story.

[Len Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Partial Sun is the first installment of The Tinsmith’s Apprentice Series, which is the fictional story of Isaac Granger Jefferson, a slave of Thomas Jefferson. Sixteen year old Isaac is sent to Philadelphia in 1791, where Jefferson is serving as Washington’s Secretary of State, to apprentice as a tinsmith.

The novel is the recollection of Isaac, fifty years later, telling his story to Reverend Campbell, a clergyman and aspiring historian.

This is impressive work. It will obviously appeal to early American history buffs – Bechtel does a masterful job of describing 18th century Monticello, Philadelphia and the intricacies of tinsmithing – but it is much more than an historical travelogue. The real Isaac Granger wrote a memoir and there is abundance of history on all aspects of Thomas Jefferson. Bechtel, mining the historical documents, has imagined a compelling, story that was engrossing from beginning to end.

It is not hagiography, nor is it revisionist history. To me, it felt honest and real. I look forward to the next installment.

[Kendra Westerberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an illuminating and intriguing read. While the book itself is fiction, the people and storyline were very real. I had read books on Jefferson before, but never from the point of view of one of his slaves, and it is a unique perspective I wish I could read more about. Isaac Granger led a fascinating life full of complicated experiences with prejudice, with slavery, with freedom, with love, and with the worth and measure of any given human being. I felt this book conveyed the nuances of slavery to a master who wasn’t cruel and exposed me the reader to the real struggles and class differences amongst all African Americans. I would absolutely recommend this book. In our world today, where prejudice and freedom and issues of human worth are all being questioned, this book is a must read.

I was given a complimentary copy of this book, and all opinions are my own. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

[James Klagge · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a pre-publication printing. This is a compulsively readable book with engaging story-lines and characters you really care about. I look forward to the next installment--"That Dazzling Sun."

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mostly engaging novel set in the 1800s. A good range of interesting characters have good dialogs in an entertaining story.

I really appreciate the advanced copy for review!!.

[Heather Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Partial Sun is a interesting and well written book. The characters are well developed and the storyline is unique.

[Yvonne Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

The novel is well researched and written. Suitable for young adults. I enjoyed the story. The second book is highly anticipated.

[Larry Bechtel]

This is Lawrence Reid Bechtel’s wife putting Larry’s book on his Goodreads page. This is the first in his Tinsmith’s Apprentice Trilogy. He also has it recorded for Audible. It is an amazing book. Meaningful especially in these times as we look into our history of racism. But is is also a coming of age story, country mouse city mouse, there is perhaps an accidental perhaps not indication of the parallels in the marginalization of women to that of race. This is the imagined story of a real person Isaac Granger Jefferson, a slave of Thomas Jefferson, only hinted at in a brochure found at Monticello where the old Isaac, who was interviewed 20 years after Jefferson’s death, mentions that at the age of 15 he goes up to Philadelphia to learn the Tinsmithing trade with a Quaker. Thomas Jefferson goes to Philadelphia, then the Capital of the United States, to work as Secretary of State for President George Washington.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating tale of one of Thomas Jefferson's slaves who was given the opportunity to apprentice with a Quaker tinsmith while Jefferson held the post of Secretary of State on George Washington's cabinet. It provides a view of the world from a slave's perspective, though a priviledged slave, still one who had to deal with prejudice in a white supremacist's world, though there were people, including Jefferson, as well as and the Quakers of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who had better opinions of blacks. The Quakers maintaining that they were no different than they themselves.

I've got the sequel on my desk waiting to be read, and I am looking forward to that experience.

[Nancy Norton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-research and beautifully written narrative of slave life in the early history of our country. The blacks and grays of slavery are all documented through the life of one young slave. I look forward to continuing his story in the next book in the series.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

The voice of a slave, one of Thomas Jefferson’s property

This book was an exciting start of a series that gave me a sense of what one slave, this one well treated by Thomas Jefferson and given enough attention that he became skilled and literate, might have thought and experienced. It is an eye opening and thought provoking story that enthralled me and kept me drawn to the pages. I’m looking forward to the next book in the series.