Turn Homeward, Hannalee

by Patricia Beatty

Paperback, 1999

Status

Available

Call number

813.54

Publication

HarperCollins (1999), Edition: First Edition, 208 pages

Description

Twelve-year-old Hannalee Reed, forced to relocate in Indiana along with other Georgia millworkers during the Civil War, leaves her mother with a promise to return home as soon as the war ends.

Media reviews

Children's Literature

Janet L. Rose (Children's Literature) When the Union army invaded the South, they closed the clothing mills and took the workers (mainly women and children) as prisoners. They were sent north and hired out as servants, farm hands, and mill workers. Twelve-year-old Hannalee and her ten-year-old

brother, who were mill workers, were taken from their mother and sent north. Some of the people who hired the Southerners hated them because their sons or husbands were killed in the war. Some were sympathetic and understanding. Hannalee had promised her mother she would return home. One day she escapes from her family, dons trousers to masquerade as a boy, finds her brother, and heads home. She encounters southern outlaws, wounded soldiers, and Southerners who have decided to stay in the north to live a better life. Also, she and her brother witness the bloody battle of Franklin. This little-known aspect of the Civil War tells what happened to some of the poor Southerners who were trying to eke out a living on their own. Patricia Beatty presents a variety of viewpoints and emotions from both the North and the South, all of which are believable and gives children an insight as to what life was like in the 1860s and the horrors of war. 1999, Beech Tree Books, $5.95 and $10.25. Ages 9 to 12.

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User reviews

LibraryThing member kthomp25

Fast moving story of a girl who along with her brother and her older brother's girlfriend, all mill workers in a Georgia mill that manufactures cloth for the Confederate Army, are forcibly removed to Indiana upon the orders of General Sherman. Based on a true event, the mill workers were declared

traitors and relocated in the North. They are made available for paid labor. Families are separated and children are at the mercy of the families who take them in for free labor. Another atrocity of war I had previously been unaware of.

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LibraryThing member MereYom

Wow, who knew that there were children who were prisoners of war during the Civil War? A riveting story, based on actual historical children who were forcibly removed from their homes in Georgia and taken to serve families and factories in the North. The historical setting of this book is

meticulously researched, with interesting accounts of various battles, told from the children's perspective.

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LibraryThing member satyridae

Interesting story of a young girl who was taken from her mill job by the Yankees during the Civil War. Based on true events, this story was quite affecting. The girl, Hannalee, is spunky without being unbelievable. Nicely done.

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