Turn Homeward, Hannalee tells of the adventures of Hannalee Reed, a twelve-year-old who works at a mill in Roswell, Georgia. The mill manufactures grey cloth for the uniforms of Confederate soldiers. When some of General Sherman's soldiers take over Roswell, they round up all of the mill's employees and declare them to be traitors because they made cloth for rebel uniforms. They are shipped north to Kentucky, where they are separated from each other and given to whoever needs workers. Hannalee ends up being a servant.
Setting
The towns and other settings are all authentic, representing Beatty's careful study of the history of 1864 and 1865.
Roswell, Georgia was and is a real place, and many of the locations in the novel survive today, although some of the destroyed towns were never rebuilt. Beatty portrays Roswell as a peaceful town that, like most other Southern towns by 1864, is feeling the effects of the Civil War. Hannalee's father died of disease while serving in the Confederate Army. Her older brother Davey serves in the infantry stationed in Virginia. Food is scarce, although no one seems to be starving.
Hannalee and the other mill workers are proud of their contribution to the Southern cause; they make cloth for uniforms. Their town is dependent on the mill for employment, so when it is.....
Themes and Characters
Turn Homeward, Hannalee focuses on events in the life of Hannalee Reed, a twelve-year-old worker in a mill in the Georgian town of Roswell. She tells the story in the first person, so every event is described from her point-of-view.
Therefore, much of the fighting of the Civil War in 1864 and 1865 is not discussed because Hannalee has no idea of what is going on. This is realistic; during the Civil War civilians often did not learn of battles and outcomes until a month or even more later. Hannalee's not knowing how the war is going on the battlefield adds some suspense to the novel because soldiers of either side could pop up anywhere; it also adds poignancy to the story because her life, like those of many others, is profoundly affected by events.
Chief of this characters is Hannalee of the fictional Reed family of Roswell, Georgia. Caught in the war between the Confederates and the Yankees, the family gets torn apart. Her father had died serving as a Confederate soldier and her brother Davey is now facing the same probable fate as another soldier of the Confederacy. She and her younger brother Jem, having worked as mill hands in Georgia, are punished by the Union (Yankee) Army for making clothes and ropes for the Confederate States. As traitors, they are among the many who are then forcibly sent to Indiana and later made to work as slaves or laborers for Yankees. Hannalee and Jem, afraid and helpless, are forced to leave their pregnant mother behind. Together with Rosellen Sanders, Davey's true love, they find ways long enough to stay together until they are all finally separated. Sad and alone, Hannalee holds on to a promise she made to her mother. And so, she embarks on a long and perilous journey to find the path that will lead her back
- ISBN10 0688166768
- ISBN13 9780688166762
- Publish Date 21 June 1999
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 6 July 2001
- Publish Country US
- Publisher HarperCollins Publishers Inc
- Imprint William Morrow
- Format Paperback
- Pages 208
- Language English