'Tho I Be Mute
By Heather Miller
Home. Heritage. Legacy. Legend.
In 1818, Cherokee John Ridge seeks a young man’s education at the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall, Connecticut. While there, he is overcome with sickness yet finds solace and love with Sarah, the steward’s quiet daughter. Despite a two-year separation, family disapproval, defamatory editorials, and angry mobs, the couple marries in 1824.
Sarah reconciles her new family’s spirituality and her foundational Christianity. Although, Sarah’s nature defies her new family’s indifference to slavery. She befriends Honey, half-Cherokee and half-African, who becomes Sarah’s voice during John’s extended absences.
Once arriving on Cherokee land, John argues to hold the land of the Cherokees and that of his Creek neighbors from encroaching Georgian settlers. His success hinges upon his ability to temper his Cherokee pride with his knowledge of American law. Justice is not guaranteed.
Rich with allusions to Cherokee legends, ‘Tho I Be Mute speaks aloud; some voices are heard, some are ignored, some do not speak at all, compelling readers to listen to the story of a couple who heard the pleas of the Cherokee.
Publication Date: 13th July 2021
Publisher: Defiance Press and Publishing
Page Length: 340 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction/Romance
MY THOUGHTS
John Ridge may come from Cherokee land and have a different coloured skin to the whites, but that doesn’t mean he cannot become a learned man. He joins his cousin, Elias, at the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall, Connecticut to continue his education further. However, he was plagued with pains in his hip and had to walk with a crutch. When he falls ill, he is taken in by the Northrup family, who are willing to give him shelter and food for as long as it takes for him to recover, as they have done for some of the students before.
It may be Mr and Mrs Northrup who initially kept John alive, but it is the Northrup’s daughter, Sarah, who nurses both his hip and his spirit back to health. It is despite the valued norms that John and Sarah fall in love, and when they announce to their parents that they wish to marry, the longed-for response is not given immediately. Sarah’s parents do not wish her to marry a Cherokee, and John’s mother has doubts about his union with a white woman. However, they are a young couple in love, and that is a force strong enough to withstand many things. Despite their parents' hesitations, and the abuse thrown their way from the inhabitants of Cornwall, Connecticut, who try to stop the couple from marrying, Sarah Northrup becomes Sarah Ridge.
I will admit, I do not know much about the Cherokee people. Therefore, reading this book was like opening my eyes to a whole new world that I was not fully aware of. I learnt about the customs, the natural way of life, the legends. I felt as though I were learning alongside Sarah, about an entirely different way of life, as she stepped into that world, and I watched her walk.
Sarah and John are such wonderful people, the kind that you can’t help but like. Sarah pushes aside her old way of life as she follows John, and absorbs herself in the Cherokee world. She may not be able to speak with her new parents-in-law, but the way that John’s parents accept her regardless of her skin colour or native language was beautiful and something that should also have happened for John in Cornwall. Unfortunately, the world can be cruel, and the people on it crueller.
Although the Cherokee people, on the surface, are a people who want to be left alone, to keep and work their land, there is always something lurking underneath, and it is not until Sarah arrives at her new home that she realises – her new family own slaves. Yet, their attitude towards their slaves is vastly different from their white counterparts. Many of them simply required the stability that having another person responsible for you provided. Two of the slaves, Old Saul and Honey, are father and daughter, although Honey is not treated by him as a father should. Instead, Honey finds her family with John’s mother, Susannah, who looks after her as a daughter, and Sarah, who treats her as both a daughter and a sister. Here is a young girl so determined to do what’s right, and to help others, that those around her cannot help but love her, and want to protect her.
This novel, although I was not aware while reading it, follows the lives of real historical characters. John’s work with the Creek neighbours of the Cherokee and the Georgians desperately trying to buy the land out from under them all was incredibly detailed, and I can’t even begin to imagine how much research and work went into making sure everything was correct. The lives of these people may have ended long ago, but their legacies will live on forever in this book.
This book not only tells the story of John and Sarah, but also another person, Clarinda, many years later. As a reader, reaching the end of a book is often the worst part, as you are always left wondering – what happened next? Not so, with this book. John and Sarah give you the start, and Clarinda the end, so although you know the end result, you are left to read on about how these people reached that conclusion. I thought this was an incredibly important decision, to write this book in that way, and I am so glad that it was. I loved Clarinda’s chapters and, as her chapters revealed more about what might happen with John and Sarah, or how certain things may turn out, John and Sarah’s chapters started to explain certain things about Clarinda.
I adored this book from start to finish. It is what I might call a work of art, contained among the pages and trapped between a cover. To see the art, and free that what is trapped, you must only open the book and start reading.
Heather Miller
As an English educator, Heather Miller has spent twenty-three years teaching her students the author’s craft. Now, she is writing it herself, hearing voices from the past.
Miller’s foundation began in the theatre, through performance storytelling. She can tap dance, stage-slap someone, and sing every note from Les Misérables. Her favorite role is that of a fireman’s wife and mom to three: a trumpet player, a future civil engineer, and a future RN. There is only one English major in her house.
While researching, writing, and teaching, she is also working towards her M FA in Creative Writing. Heather’s corndog-shaped dachshund, Sadie, deserves an honorary degree.
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