The Floating Theatre by Martha Conway

The Floating Theatre by Martha Conway

I picked this book up at a Duty-Free and what a delightful read it has been.  This is one of those beautiful stories that will stay with me long after reading the last page.  It’s a touching and vivid story about an ordinary main character who, through circumstances, ends up doing extraordinary things.

May Bedloe finds herself at a bit of a loose end when her cousin Comfort, a travelling actress for whom she has been the seamstress and general dogs-body, becomes the spokesperson for the abolitionist movement.  May gets herself a job with Hugo and Helena’s Floating Theatre, a nineteenth century riverboat theatre on a small flatbed.  This boat lazily cruises up and down the Ohio River that acts as a natural divide between the free northern states and the southern slave states.  May’s creativity and needlework skills quickly become invaluable and she settles in to life among the colourful troupe of actors enjoying her new sense of independence and freedom and making new friends.  Through a series of events, May is coerced into using the theatres travel patterns and location to ferry “packages” across the Ohio.  The usually naive, honest and law-abiding May must now rely on wit and instinct to ensure the safety of herself, her colleagues and the ‘packages’ as she finds herself at odds with the law.

(*Confession*  I did judge this book by its cover…which is gorgeous, by the way!)

Whether you are partial to historical novels or not, this is an amazing read…I totally loved it from cover to cover.

I give this book FIVE COFFEE CUPS ☕☕☕☕☕