Last Runaway

Tracy Chevalier is the author of six previous novels, including the international bestseller Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Virgin Blue, Falling Angels, The Lady and the Unicorn, Burning Bright and Remarkable Creatures. Born in Washington, DC, she moved to London in 1984, where she lives with her husband and son.

Praise for The Last Runaway:‘I have always admired Tracy Chevalier's un-showy brilliance, and this moving story of a young English Quaker girl trapped between duty and conscience in 1850s Ohio is the best thing she's written since Girl with a Pearl Earring’ Rose TremainThe Last Runaway is a joy to read. Chevalier handles the intersection of two stories – those of pioneering Quakers and escaping slaves – with verve, imagination and, above all, compassion’ Maggie O’Farrell‘A brave, warm-hearted, moving book; the characters are well-drawn and credible; the local colour meticulously detailed’ Joanne Harris‘By far her best book since Girl With A Pearl Earring if not better’ Amanda Craig‘Chevalier places her heroine at the heart, constructing a synergy between character and plot that makes this novel exquisitely complete… addictively compelling… Honor Bright deserves a sequel’ THE TIMES‘Her best since Girl With a Pearl Earring… as a serious novel about a genuine moral dilemma, it is highly recommended’ THE INDEPENDENT‘Chevalier immerses herself in period and place. Her research, as always, is meticulous and lightly worn… an entertaining read’ THE GUARDIAN‘Chevalier’s eye for the telling detail brings it vividly to life. As simple and plain as a Quaker bonnet, but, like a Quaker soul, it contains a hidden light’ LITERARY REVIEW‘A gripping and potent novel which shows Chevalier at the height of her powers’ THE EXPRESS‘Tracy Chevalier has found a subject that both fascinates and moves her and the result is this quietly powerful and gripping novel’ THE MAIL‘An accomplished historical novelist, and she successfully evokes the texture of life in the antebellum Midwest’ INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY