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The Eulogist: A Novel Kindle Edition
From the author of The Water Dancers and Good Family, an exquisitely crafted novel, set in Ohio in the decades leading to the Civil War, that illuminates the immigrant experience, the injustice of slavery, and the debts human beings owe to one another, witnessed through the endeavors of one Irish-American family.
Cheated out of their family estate in Northern Ireland after the Napoleonic Wars, the Givens family arrives in America in 1819. But in coming to this new land, they have lost nearly everything. Making their way west they settle in Cincinnati, a burgeoning town on the banks of the mighty Ohio River whose rise, like the Givenses’ own, will be fashioned by the colliding forces of Jacksonian populism, religious evangelism, industrial capitalism, and the struggle for emancipation.
After losing their mother in childbirth and their father to a riverboat headed for New Orleans, James, Olivia, and Erasmus Givens must fend for themselves. Ambitious James eventually marries into a prosperous family, builds a successful business, and rises in Cincinnati society. Taken by the spirit and wanderlust, Erasmus becomes an itinerant preacher, finding passion and heartbreak as he seeks God. Independent-minded Olivia, seemingly destined for spinsterhood, enters into a surprising partnership and marriage with Silas Orpheus, a local doctor who spurns social mores.
When her husband suddenly dies from an infection, Olivia travels to his family home in Kentucky, where she meets his estranged brother and encounters the horrors of slavery firsthand. After abetting the escape of one slave, Olivia is forced to confront the status of a young woman named Tilly, another slave owned by Olivia’s brother-in-law. When her attempt to help Tilly ends in disaster, Olivia tracks down Erasmus, who has begun smuggling runaways across the river—the borderline between freedom and slavery.
As the years pass, this family of immigrants initially indifferent to slavery will actively work for its end—performing courageous, often dangerous, occasionally foolhardy acts of moral rectitude that will reverberate through their lives for generations to come.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherWilliam Morrow
- Publication dateJanuary 22, 2019
- File size4.8 MB
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“In the Givens siblings, Terry Gamble has created a vivid and fierce-souled trio who navigate some of the strongest crosscurrents of American history. This is an inventive, spirited, and captivating story.”
— Jessica Shattuck, New York Times bestselling author of The Women in the Castle
“A captivating historical novel of family loyalties and conflict, and the borders between freedom and slavery, The Eulogist is a searing portrait of the Ohio Valley and its pre-Civil War turmoil with beautifully drawn characters. Highly recommended.”
— Paulette Jiles, author of Enemy Women and News of the World
“This gripping historical novel follows an Irish-American immigrant family as they search for their place in the free border state of Ohio, and the momentous choices they must each make in the face of the insidious reach of slavery. An essential read.” — Lalita Tademy, New York Times bestselling author of Cane River, Red River, and Citizens Creek
“The Eulogist is a moving story, beautifully constructed.” — Amitav Ghosh, author of Gun Island
“This is history at its liveliest pace, its most surprising turns, and its strangest twists in the narrow borderlands between antebellum north and south. The Eulogist challenges us to engage with both the living and the dead, the loved and the betrayed, the captive and the free.” — Linda Spalding, award-winning author of A Reckoning
“A sprawling yet richly drawn family saga.” — Kirkus Reviews
“With more twists and turns than the Ohio River, The Eulogist brings us to the source of our nation’s spirit, introducing us to characters we won’t forget, no matter whether we loathe them or love them, culminating on a pitch-perfect note: forgiveness.”
— Sally Cabot Gunning, author of The Widow’s War and Monticello: A Daughter and Her Father
“Gamble seduces with her rich, rollicking portrait of life in Jacksonian Ohio.” — New York Times Book Review
From the Back Cover
From the author of The Water Dancers and Good Family, an exquisitely crafted novel set in Ohio in the decades leading up to the Civil War that illuminates the immigrant experience, the injustice of slavery, and the debts human beings owe to one another, witnessed through the endeavors of one Irish American family.
Cheated out of their family estate in the north of Ireland after the Napoleonic Wars, the Givens family arrives in America in 1819.
But in coming to this new land, they have lost nearly everything. Making their way west, they settle in Cincinnati, a burgeoning town on the banks of the mighty Ohio River whose rise—like the Givenses’ own—will be fashioned by the colliding forces of Jacksonian populism, religious evangelism, industrial capitalism, and the struggle for emancipation.
After losing their mother in childbirth and their father to a riverboat headed for New Orleans, James, Olivia, and Erasmus Givens must fend for themselves. Ambitious James eventually marries into a prosperous family, builds a successful business, and rises in Cincinnati society. Taken by the spirit and wanderlust, Erasmus becomes an itinerant preacher, finding passion and heartbreak as he seeks God along the banks of the river. Fiery-haired, independent-minded Olivia, seemingly destined for spinsterhood, enters into a surprising partnership and marriage with Silas Orpheus, a local doctor who spurns social norms and admires his bride’s predilection for nonconformity.
When her husband suddenly dies of an infection, Olivia travels to his family home in Kentucky, where she meets his estranged brother and encounters the horrors of slavery firsthand. After abetting the escape of one slave, Olivia is forced to confront the status of a young woman named Tilly, another slave owned by Olivia’s brother-in-law. When her attempt to help Tilly ends in disaster, Olivia tracks down Erasmus, who has begun smuggling runaways across the river—the borderline between freedom and slavery.
As the years pass, this family of immigrants initially indifferent to slavery will actively work for its end—performing courageous, often dangerous, occasionally foolhardy acts of moral rectitude that will reverberate through their lives for generations to come.
In taut, delicate, and moving prose, Terry Gamble takes measure of the tremors from nineteenth-century America—a time of displacement, change, religious zeal, and divided mores—that transformed society and continue to shake our nation now. Through the experiences of one remarkable family, she brilliantly illuminates the divisive yet indelible cultural strands—race, religion, migration, the yearning for indepen-dence, and the right to be free—that have shaped us and make us who we are today.About the Author
Terry Gamble is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Michigan. She lives in Sonoma and San Francisco, California.
Product details
- ASIN : B07B2TWTTG
- Publisher : William Morrow; Reprint edition (January 22, 2019)
- Publication date : January 22, 2019
- Language : English
- File size : 4.8 MB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 311 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #944,635 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,617 in Historical European Fiction
- #3,830 in Cultural Heritage Fiction
- #4,702 in U.S. Historical Fiction
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Terry Gamble was born in Pasadena, California – the younger of two daughters of resolutely Victorian parents. A strange, pale child, she spent much of her early years under the piano or on a closet shelf reading books. Her first two novels, THE WATER DANCERS and GOOD FAMILY, are based in Northern Michigan where she spent her childhood summers. THE EULOGIST is set in Cincinnati, Ohio, where the author’s ancestors landed when they emigrated from Northern Ireland in 1819. A Phi Bet Kappa graduate of the University of Michigan, Terry lives in Northern California with her artist husband and an ancient cat.
Customer reviews
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book skillfully told and descriptive. They appreciate the historical accuracy and well-researched content. The book is described as a compelling story that brings the rich history of the Ohio Valley to life.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers enjoy the well-written historical fiction. They find it skillfully told with great wit and descriptive writing that makes each scene easy to picture. The story is heartwarming yet also heartbreaking.
"...I was expecting something interesting but was amazed at the quality of the writing and the vivid characters...." Read more
"Terry Gamble writes a compelling story of the intertwining lives of an immigrant American family making its' way through the frontiers of pre -civil..." Read more
"...heartwarming yet also heartbreaking (the issue of slavery), very descriptive and easy to picture each scene and each character, and simply hard to..." Read more
"...The Eulogist is a heartwarming and heartbreaking story. Recommend." Read more
Customers enjoy the historical accuracy of the book. They say it takes them back in time and brings the rich history of the Ohio Valley to life.
"...is set in the twins and cities I am growing love and the rich history of the Ohio Valley...." Read more
"...the ability to transport the reader from our modern age, back in time to this earlier era and make it come to life...." Read more
"This is an historical novel that should be required reading for every American...." Read more
Customers appreciate the book's research quality. They find it well-researched and personal, describing it as important literature that covers many topics.
"...It is the definition of important literature." Read more
"This book touches so many topics, that it’s hard to leave a brief review...." Read more
"Brilliant historical fiction. Well researched and personal...." Read more
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2020As a relatively recent immigrant to Cincinnati, by way of Venice Beach, I throughly enjoyed this book.
I picked it up because it is set in the twins and cities I am growing love and the rich history of the Ohio Valley.
I was expecting something interesting but was amazed at the quality of the writing and the vivid characters.
This is that book that you want to finish to see how it ends but you know you will be sad when it is finished.
I will be giving this as a Christmas gift to many of my fellow Queen City friends.
- Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2019James, Olivia and Erasmus Givens are the remains of a family that emigrated from Ireland to the United States. The family has ended up in Cincinnati after being abandoned by their father. James develops a candle wick that leads him to running a very successful chandlery. Olivia is a woman of her own mind and feels that she will never marry but fate has more in store for her. Erasmus is a bit of a lost soul and he works for James for a while but he often cannot be counted on.
The siblings are living in a free state but just across the Ohio river in Kentucky slavery is in full force. It doesn’t touch their lives in an immediate way but the issues that will bring about the Civil War are starting to simmer.
As time passes James makes a very prosperous marriage, Erasmus runs off to preach the word of God and Olivia who long thought her time was past finally finds love but it will turn out to be a complicated relationship with a man whose brother holds slaves.
Times are changing and feelings about slavery and its abolition are becoming volatile. People are starting to choose sides. The Givens’ family needs to choose on which side it will fall.
The Eulogist is a richly plotted novel full of compelling characters. I found myself quite involved in the tale despite the dark themes. I can’t say that it was an easy book to read as it takes place in a very difficult time in this country’s history. The individual subplots surrounding each Givens sibling are all detailed and interwoven with careful skill. Little crumbs dropped in one chapter show up later as more meaningful than you might have expected.
I was very confused as to the title of the book and remained that way almost until the end and then all was made clear. The Eulogist is one of those books you keep to read again for I do believe it will be even better on a second go round. There is just so much to this book. It deserves to be read and it is worth your attention.
4.5
I received a free copy for my honest review
- Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2019I normally really enjoy historical fiction. The Eulogist was ok. I found myself stepping away from it and then coming back but never really feeling that tied to the characters. I appreciate the feel the book gives for the roles and limitations placed on women during this period of western expansion and for its no nonsense portrait of slavery and plantation life. I found the idea of women silently supporting the tide of the abolitionist movement interesting but I am not sure how much of an honest moral difference this made in the story. I can't really recommend it, but, nor can I find anything in particular that i object to. It just kind of left me tepid.
Thank you to Terry Gamble and William Morrow for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
- Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2019Terry Gamble writes a compelling story of the intertwining lives of an immigrant American family making its' way through the frontiers of pre -civil war American history. Ms. Gambles great gift is the ability to transport the reader from our modern age, back in time to this earlier era and make it come to life. One feels as if they are quite literally by the side of Olivia Givens as she confronts and lives through the challenges of her personal journey. This is in some ways a quiet story, reminiscent for me of the novels of the great American writer Willa Cather. For those of you who know Ms. Cather's books, you will understand this is high praise. For those of you who don't know Ms. Cather's books, add a title or two of hers to your cart when you are purchasing your copy of "The Eulogist." Bravo, Ms. Gamble, Bravo!!!
- Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2024Terry Gamble’s book examines the drama and ethics of America’s Antebellum era. By sensitively inhabiting the mind of the enslaved, the enslaver, and the rescuer, she brings authenticity to every page. This book represents an essential and honest reflection. It is the definition of important literature.
- Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2023I found this book to be a fascinating study of the social situation of the decades leading to the Civil War. From about 1810 to 1850, America was developing an ethos as the slavery and non-slave states became entrenched in their positions. Set in a border area in which these ideas clashed, the author includes insights into the settlement of the Ohio River Valley, the development of cities, the thinking of the day, and the underground railroad. Included is the complicated relationship of those engaged in slavery as well as their slaves. Families were not always pure and situations become convoluted. The ending is especially good at tying the book together and solving all the questions raised in the lives of the characters. Moderately violent, the book tells the story from a feminine point of view in the days in which a woman's fortunes were ultimately tied to the men in their lives. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction.
- Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2023Terry, I have now enjoyed all three of your books..will you write more? I think I enjoyed the Eulogist the most..you have a gift. Thank you, Marcia from Harbor Springs.
- Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2019This book touches so many topics, that it’s hard to leave a brief review. It is very well written, heartwarming yet also heartbreaking (the issue of slavery), very descriptive and easy to picture each scene and each character, and simply hard to put down.