How Long to Read Black Dove

How Long Does it Take to Read Black Dove?

It takes the average reader 4 hours and 1 minute to read Black Dove by C. H. Jamieson

Assuming a reading speed of 250 words per minute. Learn more

Description

Synopsis of Novel Black Dove Abby Spooner is the mulatto daughter of ex-slaves who escaped from bondage in Kentucky before the Civil War. Fleeing to Kansas they hoped they could find a safe haven that would provide for opportunity for fugitives in a free state on an equal footing with Anglos in the west. Squatting on a tract of bottom land in eastern Kansas they farmed and eked out a lively hood harvesting a subsistence crop. When "Bleeding Kansas" is terrorized by competing bands of guerillas trying to influence the admission of the state into the union as a free state vs. slave state to balance partisan votes in the Congress of the United States, Abby's parents and little brother are brutally murdered by Quantrill's raiders in 1863. Raised in a Quaker orphanage in Lawrence, her mixed parentage (descendents of white owners and Negro slaves) provide the mulatto child with the genetic heritage of both races. She is neither white nor black. Excelling in the Quaker school her mentor, Sara Quitman, trains her to be a teacher with the hope that frontier schools will not discriminate against her star pupil because of race. Teachers are in short supply on the frontier. Engaged as a teacher by mail order by a group of German farm families settled in Ford County, the innocent and naive Abby leaves the orphanage at age 18 to travel by train to Dodge City with a one way ticket. The train is de-railed by a band of Indians and she is forced to continue her trip in a horse drawn wagon accompanied by cattle buyer, Sam Kluge. They are waylaid and robbed and forced to finish the trip to Dodge on foot, barefoot and bleeding. Arriving at the railhead town at the same time as drovers from Texas arrive tosell their Longhorn cattle, she is summarily dismissed from her teaching job because of her obvious ethnic origin. Abandoned and on her own, Abby gets mixed up in a free for all between the town banker, Rafe Knutson, cattle buyers, cattle rustlers, Irish railroad workers, cowboys from Texas, and Buffalo soldiers from Fort Dodge. In Dodge City she meets Sergeant Ben Able, a black soldier serving in the 10th Cavalry. They fall in love, but are separated by the extended patrol duty demanded of soldiers. The soldier's mission is to protect homesteaders from raids by small bands of Indians who have vowed to never give up. Native Americans wage a last ditch war of survival by harassing any and all Anglos who keep coming in ever increasing numbers from the east. The Indians steal livestock, raid and kill. The soldier's duty is to guard the frontier. The town banker, Rafe Knutson helps Sofiya, a hardened black widow survivor of a Buffalo soldier killed in action on the frontier to operate a restaurant and boarding house. She befriends Abby and offers her home to Abby in exchange for helping out in the boarding house. The town sheriff rapes Abby. After she recovers from the violent attack, Sofiya and Abby with the banker's help, operate a saloon and bordello for black soldiers from Fort Dodge which is a cut above the sordid establishments that fleece the cowboys, Irish rail workers, and buffalo hunters in Dodge City. Their business is burned out in a racist riot. The two women flee the town and find refuge in a winter blizzard with a gypsy woman, Bertuska, very sick with either cholera or typhoid. Abby does not know which. In spite of nursing the two women, both Sofiya and the gypsy die becauseof lack of medical attention. At Fort Hayes Abby becomes a laundress for the army and migrates with a troop of cavalry to Camp Supply in Indian Territory where Native Americans are restrained on the reservation after being defeated in the Red River War of 1874. Ben Able is wounded on patrol protecting a cattle drive from Texas. Abby and her lover are re-united at Camp Supply in a field hospital. Working as a laundress she nurses Ben back to health and in doing so comes to the attention of an Army Surgeon who recommends that she be hired to manage th

How long is Black Dove?

Black Dove by C. H. Jamieson is 236 pages long, and a total of 60,416 words.

This makes it 80% the length of the average book. It also has 74% more words than the average book.

How Long Does it Take to Read Black Dove Aloud?

The average oral reading speed is 183 words per minute. This means it takes 5 hours and 30 minutes to read Black Dove aloud.

What Reading Level is Black Dove?

Black Dove is suitable for students ages 12 and up.

Note that there may be other factors that effect this rating besides length that are not factored in on this page. This may include things like complex language or sensitive topics not suitable for students of certain ages.

When deciding what to show young students always use your best judgement and consult a professional.

Where Can I Buy Black Dove?

Black Dove by C. H. Jamieson is sold by several retailers and bookshops. However, Read Time works with Amazon to provide an easier way to purchase books.

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