Cecelia’s Harvest: A Novel of the Revolution
It is the eve of the Revolutionary War, but the only independence on the mind of 16-year-old Cecelia Moore is freedom from her family. When handsome Kenneth Black comes courting with tales of an easy life on his family plantation, she is eager to accept. Then tragedy strikes and Cecelia is left with a baby, a dilapidated farm, a few slaves, and the choice to flee or fight back against her circumstances.
Cecelia has a vision that goes beyond mere survival to turn the plantation into a thriving business, but the war and the lawlessness it generates are relentless enemies. As she struggles to make her dream a reality, she learns, along with her fledgling country, that independence has a price, but that the rewards are worth the suffering.
In Cecelia’s Harvest, Blonnie Wyche captures the complexities of a country divided, with honor and dishonor, and heroes and villains on both sides. She also creates an absorbing narrative and a cast of colorful, sympathetic characters. It may be a cliché to call a heroine ‘feisty’, but Cecelia is, well, feisty; in some ways, she reminded me of Little Women’s Jo March. Readers will be informed and impressed at just what a colonial teenager faced, both in war and everyday life – and cheering Cecelia on all the way.
– Susan Cook
Cecelia’s Harvest is an inspiring novel. Cecelia was put in an awful position, but she did not give up. She learned how to manage her household and run a farm. Cecelia herself was a remarkable young woman. One of the things about her that stood out to me was her decisiveness. She seemed to know the right thing to do in all the challenges that were thrown at her. I would highly recommend this book.
– Magdalen Dobson, age 12
