The Eulogist

Following their mother's death on the way over from Ireland and their subsequent abandonment by their father, the Givens children must fend for themselves in 1819 Cincinnati. Older brother James aspires to become a responsible businessman, wild younger brother Erasmus unexpectedly finds religion and separates himself from society, and freethinking sister Olivia struggles to find fulfillment in a community with very restrictive ideas about women. Though there's some pleasure in her marriage to an eccentric local doctor, the true test of Olivia's character comes when she meets the people enslaved by her in-laws in Kentucky and must decide how far she will go to help them fight for their freedom. Gamble's third novel (Good Family; The Water Dancers) paints an absorbing portrait of life in Cincinnati in the decades leading up to the Civil War and convincingly depicts how one woman's attitudes toward slavery might change from vague disapproval to passionate opposition during the time. The large cast crucially includes well-developed African American characters who are never portrayed as passive victims regardless of their circumstance.