Review of Indentured:

Abi McCoy · Post by **Abi McCoy** » 05 Nov 2021, 12:02

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Indentured:" by Larry and Maggie Kessler.]

4 out of 4 stars

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Indentured: A Pathway to America by Larry and Maggie Kessler is a work of historical fiction that covers almost a century of time. The first portion of the work begins in 1746 in Germany and focuses on the Kessler family and their journey to America. The voyage was horrible and full of pain, and upon arriving in America, the members of the family become indentured to different owners. The book then focuses on Ulrich Kessler who was quite young when found himself indentured to a farm owner. He worked full days of difficult manual labor all year.

Ulrich learns much while he is at the farm and is even able to make some friends, but he makes some enemies as well. When he is finally released at the age of 21, he travels to Germantown and joins the textile industry and a Quaker community. He soon marries and begins his own family.

The book then skips through time to the eve of the American Revolutionary War, which affects the textile industry and Ulrich’s family. After some personal tragedy, Ulrich and his son Daniel decide to travel to Kentucky to settle on the unclaimed land there. The story seamlessly transfers its focus onto Daniel and his journey to Kentucky where he begins his new life and his family.

This book was amazing. The fact that the authors were able to write something of this scope about their ancestors is inspiring. The amount of historical research that went into this novel is evident, and there are many details included that create a meaningful and realistic setting. I learned so much concerning indentured servitude, surveying roads, farming in the 18th century, and more. There was also a brief section included at the beginning of the work that included a historical overview of the setting that helped to situate the story. The authors were able to include all of this information while incorporating interesting and relatable characters.

There were only a few things I disliked. The prologue to the book was set in 1838 and focused on one of Daniel’s children. I felt that this was unnecessary and a little disorienting since those events are not addressed again until the end of the book. The last quarter of the book largely focused on characters that were adjacent to the Kessler family but weren’t heavily involved except for a brief amount of time. That part of the book felt a little out of place to me.

Indentured: A Pathway to America by Larry and Maggie Kessler absolutely deserves a 4 out of 4 stars rating. This work was full of compelling characters with meaningful stories. The setting and historical information included were well written and created a beautiful backdrop for the story. This story was full of realistic hardships, and especially in the last quarter of the book there were many instances of rape, abuse, and murder that may be upsetting to certain readers. I highly recommend this work to anyone interested in historical fiction, stories centered around immigrant families, or America during the 18th and 19th centuries.

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Indentured:
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Post by **Lucy Vera** » 17 Dec 2021, 11:42

The author apparently put in a lot of research and it's quite impressive. However, I think I'll pass; historical fiction isn't my kind of book.

Shivansh_Reviews · Post by **Shivansh_Reviews** » 18 Dec 2021, 06:42

I've read some historical fiction book and I enjoyed them quite a lot. This one has a unique style to it and I think I'll like this one as well. Thanks for the wonderful review.

Rm21 · Post by **Rm21** » 31 Dec 2021, 08:59

I usually like historical fiction and it sounds like this one included a lot of good research and information without slowing the story down. i think i'll need to read this one. thank you for the recommendation!