Sycamore Promises
In 1854 Micah and Claire Mason, newlyweds from Ohio, decide that the proposed railroad to the Pacific is a great opportunity to make their fortunes. They bid their families goodbye, pack a wagon, and set out westward on the National Road. Micah stakes a claim on fine bottomland near Lawrence, Kansas, but finds that he has to defend it from a covetous neighbor.
At the same time, 22-year-old Caleb is chafing under the yoke of slavery in Jackson County, Missouri. Even more worrisome, Miriam, the woman he loves, is eighteen now. When her own master’s son tries to rape the attractive Miriam, Caleb convinces her that the only way they can safely be together is to run away. Kansas isn’t far away, and it is filling with abolitionist Yankees who run an underground railroad north to freedom.
Paul Colt brings these two families together in Sycamore Promises, mixing history, fiction, and traditional western elements. The Masons, Caleb and Miriam work together to build a farm and defend it against Indians, bushwhackers, slave-hunters, and his treacherous neighbor.
I enjoyed Sycamore Promises and the multi-cultural partnership on the Mason farm, but the scenes between historical characters such as Stephen Douglas and Charles Sumner were stiff. I particularly struggled with Colt’s dialogue. He presents it in long sections with so few identifiers that it can be difficult to keep track of who is speaking, and my frequent backtracks distracted from the story. Despite that flaw, Sycamore Promises is an intriguing treatment of the struggle between pro and anti-slavery factions in Missouri and Bloody Kansas, and I suggest that you give it a try.
