Amorette's Watch: A Civil War Widow and Her Granddaughter

By Virginia Foote

The theft of a gold pocket watch that had once belonged to her grandmother led Virginia Foote into a search to recover Amorette Foote's life story. In doing so, Virginia discovered a parallel between... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1587901641
• ISBN13: 9781587901645
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: Regent Press
• Length: 285 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

An extraordinary story about an ordinary woman

This is not a work of fiction, but in reconstructing her grandmother's life, Virginia Foote has created a character with all the virtues and faults of a fictional character. We watch her from early childhood to her death at age 70, suffer her loses, rejoice in her achievements and marvel at her faith and perseverence. Amorette's story takes us back to the 19th century where we learn about the Gold Rush from the viewpoints of the pioneers, about the battles of the Union soldiers in the Western territories of Iowa and Kansas, about the plight of Civil War widows. We also follow the career of Amorette as she becomes a deaconness, one of the first women to have that position. We watch her as matron of Alabama's Talledega College, one of the first institutions in the South to educate the freed slaves. Her experiences with racial discrimination are echoed in the 20th century during the college years of the author, and provide a moving example of the ongoing struggle for racial justice in this country. All of this has been carefully documented, but unlike a standard history or biography, the live of her grandmother has been written by Ms. Foote in clear and lucid prose and reads like a novel. It is full of rich descriptions of places from Nebraska to Alabama, and from California to New Jersey. The photos bring the characters to life, and I won't reveal the story behind Amorette's watch, but it alone is worth the price of the book. A story of an ordinary woman becomes extraordinary in its telling.