The Orphan Mother: A Novel

Written by Robert Hicks

Narrated by Adenrele Ojo

An epic account of one remarkable woman's quest for justice from the New York Times bestselling author of The Widow of the South and A Separate Country.

In the years following the Civil War, Mariah Reddick, former slave to Carrie McGavock--the "Widow of the South"--has quietly built a new life for herself as a midwife to the women of Franklin, Tennessee. But when her ambitious, politically minded grown son, Theopolis, is murdered, Mariah--no stranger to loss--finds her world once more breaking apart. How could this happen? Who wanted him dead?
Mariah's journey to uncover the truth leads her to unexpected people--including George Tole, a recent arrival to town, fleeing a difficult past of his own--and forces her to confront the truths of her own past. Brimming with the vivid prose and historical research that has won Robert Hicks recognition as a "master storyteller" (San Francisco Chronicle).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hachette Audio
• Release date: Sep 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9781478940586

Robert Hicks

Robert Hicks writes for Cycling Weekly, Cycling Fitness and Cycling Active, covering topics from riding techniques to nutrition, psychology and physiology.

Reviews for The Orphan Mother

[delphimo_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Orphan Mother presents a story of the “Negro” after the Civil War, and the times called for great fortitude. The story begins with Mariah Reddick in 1892, getting ready for her demise. But before she dies, Mariah must give a huge donation to a “Negro” college. Next, the reader is taken back to 1867, and the events that condemned Mariah to a childless existence. Mariah, a midwife, has a profession that earns her enough money to eke an existence. Robert Hicks paints a vivid picture of the life of the free slaves, and the feelings of the beaten Southerners after the Civil War. Hicks evokes strong feelings for Mariah, George Tole, and Carrie McGavock. So many of the scenes between Carrie and Mariah provoke strong emotions that the characters become living and believable individuals. Many nuances throughout the story, so the reader must not quickly read each page.

[creighley_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In the years following the Civil War, Mariah Reddick, a former slave, has worked hard to become the respected midwife to the women of Franklin, Tennessee. But, when her ambitious, politically minded son is murdered, she sets out on a path to find out the truth. In the meantime a stranger, George Tole, comes to town trying to escape from his past. He forces Mariah to come to terms with her past as well.

[clue_4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Robert Hicks became an author in 2006 to tell the story of Carrie McGavock in Widow of the South. The Battle of Franklin (Tennessee), one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, took place near the McGavock home. Their large house was taken for a hospital and McGavock and one of her slaves, Mariah, personally nursed the wounded and dying day and night.

After the war McGavock learned the neighboring property, where almost 1500 soldiers were buried in shallow graves, was to be cultivated. She had the soldiers "unburied" and created a cemetery for them on her property. She spent the rest of her life caring for the graves and was, according to some, obsessed with "her soldiers".

Now Hicks has written a stand alone novel about Mariah that takes place after the War. Unlike the former book, it is not based on actual history. Mariah is living in Franklin in her own house and her son, Theopolis, has grown to manhood. Theopolis, the town's talented cobbler, is smart, ambitious and interested in politics. Attributes that some Franklin residents do not admire in a former slave. Theopolis decides to speak at a political rally. As he begins, a riot breaks out and he is murdered.

Theopolis' death is almost beyond Mariah's bearing. She becomes determined, regardless of the risk to herself, to find out who the person was that killed her son.

From the jacket: "The Orphan Mother is an unforgettable story of a woman's heroic struggle in the face of overwhelming adversity and the undeniable strength of a mother's love."

That pretty much says it. Hick's writing, there was another unrelated novel between these two, has matured but character development is not his strong suit. It's the story that carries both of these novels, and the stories are really good.

[phyllis.shepherd · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Engrossing historical fiction from the author of The Widow of the South. Set in 1867 Tennessee, this examines the repercussions when the son of Mariah, former slave of the Widow of the previous novel, is murdered during a political gathering. We are taken deep into the lives of former slaves and slave owners, Freedmen, greedy powerful men, outwardly powerless white women, and people who want to fashion a true Reconstruction. Powerful work.

[lauriebrown54 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Set in the summer of 1867, the story follows Mariah Reddick, freed slave and town midwife, in her quest to find out who killed her son Theopolis. Theopolis is a cobbler with dreams of entering the politics of Reconstruction era Franklin Tennessee. Killed at a political rally before he could even take the stage and speak, he is accused of having killed a white grocer. Needless to say, the government team sent to investigate is only interested in finding out who killed the white man. Helping her is George Tole, a freeborn black from New York, who is new to town and has a big secret to keep. Also on Mariah’s side is Carrie McGavock, her former owner and a historical figure. Mariah and Carrie are still negotiating a new relationship; Mariah was Carrie’s personal slave when they were children and went with Carrie when she married. They have always been close; as close as it can be when one person owns the other and holds the power of life and death over them.

The story is told from the points of view of Tole and Mariah as they look for answers. Tole’s quest is not the same as Mariah’s, though, as we learn near the end, although ultimately their aim is the same. These are complex characters; the whites around them may see them as just their occupation- the midwife, the cobbler- but they are far, far more than that. There is a lot going on beneath the surface most whites see. I should note that this is not a blacks vs. whites story; it’s just how it was in the South during Reconstruction. There is good and bad in all in this book.

This is not an easy book to read; there is a lot of human ugliness laid bare. But it was a can’t-put-it-down book for me. Very moving and tense.

[samsattler · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Orphan Mother is the third Civil War era novel from Robert Hicks. While not strictly meeting the definition of a trilogy, each of the three novels focuses on participants in the bloody 1864 Battle of Franklin, Tennessee.

The first of the three books, The Widow of the South, tells the story of Carrie McGavock, mistress of the Carnton Plantation house and the property on which she personally cared for and preserved the graves of some 1,500 casualties (from both armies) of the nearby battle. McGavock maintained the cemetery for the remaining years of her life, and it is open to the public even today. A Separate Country, the second of the three books, looks closely at the life lived after the war by the Confederate general in command of Southern troops at the Battle of Franklin, John Bell Hood, and is largely set in New Orleans. Now comes The Orphan Mother, which commences shortly after the end of the Civil War and recounts the story of Mariah Reddick, Carrie McGavock’s personal slave, a woman who experienced no other life but service to Carrie until the war finally ended.

Mariah Reddick is the preeminent midwife in the city of Franklin, Tennessee. She offers her birthing services to black and white families, alike, and by now has had a personal hand in the birthing of a significant portion of its citizens. The only thing different now is that she gets to keep the fees she collects for her services rather than having to turn the money over to the family that owns her. Mariah is doing well, and feeling confident about what the future holds for her and her only son Theopolis, who just happens to be the best shoe and boot maker in the city of Franklin.

Theopolis, though, has bigger ambitions than ministering to the feet of his fellow townsmen – he wants to represent them in the state government. But when Theo is murdered by an angry mob at the first political event he tries to speak at, Mariah’s world comes crashing down around her, and all she wants now is to identify the men who killed her son so that she can somehow bring them to justice. Mariah will learn much about her town and the people in it during her search for her son’s killers, but she will also meet a man with the ability to change the rest of her life, if she will only let him – and if he can bring himself to tell her the truth about her son’s death.

The Orphan Mother is a fine addition to Robert Hicks’s Civil War books, and it leaves me anxious to see what comes next from Hicks. Civil War fiction (as with all serious historical fiction) is a tool by which a good novelist brings history to life by allowing readers to witness historical events through the eyes of those who lived it. Robert Hicks makes that happen in The Orphan Mother.

[hollysing · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Prologue 1912. Mariah Reddick, having made a sizable donation to the university, receives four male representatives from the administration. Awed by the amount of the endowment, they want to name their new library or chapel after her. Mariah staunchly refuses, indicating that the amount of her fortune says nothing about her life. Her hope is that by making the Negro university better, she might make the world a better place for Negroes and whites.

July 2, 1867. The story is told by two narrators, Mariah, former slave and now successful midwife and Tole, a free, proud Negro, a former sharpshooter in the Union army. He is summoned by Elijah Dixon, an important magistrate, to dispose of Dixon's nemesis. Tole and Mariah meet after she's delivered Dixon's child.

Set in the South during the Reconstruction period following the Civil War, The Orphan Mother brilliantly examines the tightrope free blacks walked in society at that time. Mariah's son, Theopolis, a cobbler, is keenly interested in politics. She knows trouble will come from a black man working to be a legislator a white man's world. A shot fired during a political rally change Mariah's and Tole's lives drastically.

Robert Hicks triumphs in this extensively researched, well plotted historical novel. His characters will echo in your head and heart. Examinations of freed salves trying to make lives for themselves contrast with whites dealing with cultural upheavals. The book is honest, haunting, and disturbing. Mariah's thoughts are poignant, revealing her triumphs and struggles.This reader's emotions ricocheted so that I had to digest the story in small bits. Highly recommended.

I thank NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the advance ARC supplied in exchange for my honest review.

[beamis12 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Civil War has ended and the period known as Reconstruction has begun. Black are now free, but are they really? Since Hick's [book:The Widow of the South|71622] ended, Mariah is now living in her own house in Franklin, TN. The town's midwife, her son now grown is the town's shoemaker. The blacks are owning their own businesses, owning their own property but many white do not like this, do not like seeing them prosper, forming their own communities. After a day of speeches that will leave both a white man and Theopulos dead, nefarious doings are uncovered. Tolle, a relative newcomer,a black man will take matters into his own hands, and Mariah will vow to see justice done.

Wonderfully written historical, Mariah, Tolle and Hopper, the rag man are all wonderful characters with plenty of sadness already in their pasts. Carrie will play an important role but does not take center stage, there will be much blood shed, vengeance and retribution by both whites and blacks. A novel true to its time period, a very readable novel that highlights the terrible failure of Reconstruction and how little actually changed form the blacks after gaining their supposed freedom. Loved reading Mariah's thoughts, how she saw these times and what she wished for from them. Hard not to feel for those who wanted so little and tried so hard but were doomed to failure nonetheless.

ARC from Netgalley.

[iadam-2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I received a free advance e-copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This is a well-written piece of historical fiction that realistically depicts the plight of the freed slave after the Civil War. The South is trying to adjust to the reality of life with freed slaves. Mariah is a freed slave and a respected midwife to the women in the community. Her adult son is a politically minded cobbler who is tragically murdered during a political rally. The author gives us a look at life in the post Civil War South with its racial injustice, ignorance, prejudice, intolerance, and resentment as Mariah searches for her son’s killer seeking justice. Robert Hicks creates realistic and well-developed characters and a timely and believable plot in this extremely well written historical novel. This is an excellent historical portrayal of post Civil War South and well worth the read.