Gentle 15 year-old Ann Miller hopes to marry Eli Bowen with the burnished golden hair and a quick turn of phrase but knows her father won’t give his permission to marry at such a young age. Since her mother died in childbirth years before, Ann has become her sisters’ surrogate mother while also tending to the farm. Her father, Samuel Miller, serves as a circuit preacher in Ohio and creates masterfully crafted saddles in the workshop on his property in order to keep the family financially stable. Ann realizes that her father sacrifices much but she’s still trying to overcome her own fears about her past and her future to truly understand him.
Ann’s solace comes in the form of crumpled letters cast aside in the bottom of a barrel from a mother to a son. Hearing words of love from a mother to her child gives Ann new purpose, especially when she decides to return the letters to the boy addressed.
Fortunately for the family, Samuel uncharacteristically agrees to take his daughters to Pennsylvania on a business trip three years later, allowing them to taste city life in its glory and grit. During this trip, Ann and her sisters take pride in Samuel’s ongoing work as an active abolitionist but they soon learn that slavery takes on many legal and horrible forms in the pre-Civil War United States.
Brotherhood of the Whip
While Samuel Miller spends his time spiriting away slaves along the Underground Railroad, Will Hanby toils away in another saddler’s shop while underfed and clad in rags. Next-door neighbor Dr. Loftin kindly shares food with Will and his fellow legally bound apprentice, Tom, but both of the teenaged boys remain skeletal and overused by Master Jacob Good and his ill-humored wife.
Because Fairer Than Morning takes place in Ohio and Pennsylvania, tensions rise concerning the topic of slavery, especially during trips on the vital Ohio River. Younger generations become inadvertently drawn into the quarrels, foreshadowing the difficulty in avoiding the devastating war four decades later.
Rosslyn Elliott
Throughout the first installment of The Saddler’s Legacy series, Rosslyn Elliott’s elegant writing and meticulous attention to detail allows readers to absorb themselves into her story imbued with humor and empathy. At one point, distressed Ann thinks that the “woman who designed this kind of hat must have known that there were times when one just wanted a man out of sight.”
Well researched for both historical facts such as the appropriate inclusion of the sidesaddle for young women and geographical aspects in Ohio, Fairer Than Morning takes full advantage of the real-life Miller family and William Hanby. At the story’s close, Elliott explains the non-fictional elements and includes a helpful readers’ discussion guide for book groups.
Elliott, also the author of Sweeter Than Birdsong, won the 2011 Laurel Award for Fairer than Morning. She lives in the southern United States with her family.
Fairer Than Morning
While remaining well-intentioned and self-reflective, the imperfect primary characters of Fairer Than Morning value prayer and self-reliance, vowing to learn from their trials, making this an ideal series for both individual readers and religious discussion groups looking for enjoyable literary journeys with the message of redemption.
Publishing Information
Elliott, Rosslyn. Fairer Than Morning. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2011. ISBN: 978-1-59554-785-9
Bonnye Good - Bonnye Busbice Good received an Editor's Choice award for her article on Your Historic Home's Interior Design Secrets and has also written ...
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