The Eternal Conductor


Fiction - Historical - Event/Era
678 Pages
Reviewed on 02/09/2021
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Author Biography

Debbie Garneau Griffin grew up on a small farmstead in Fair Haven, Vermont. After moving her elderly mother to a nursing home, Debbie discovered their property had once been a waystation on the Underground Railroad for fugitive slaves seeking freedom in Canada.

Upon retiring from a successful high-tech career, Debbie was compelled to learn more about the lives of the refugees who had passed through her small Vermont town more than a century earlier. Out of her quest to research the Underground Railroad routes of the Northeast, came the genesis of The Eternal Conductor.

This is her first novel.

Debbie and her husband live in a historic gold-rush town in the California Sierra foothills, and coexist with all manner of critters. Lions and coyotes and bears and dogs and cats—oh, my!

https://goldcountrywriters.com/debbie-garneau-griffin/

    Book Review

Reviewed by Heather Osborne for Readers' Favorite

The Eternal Conductor by Debbie Garneau Griffin is an epic family historical saga that crosses generations. DeeDee Williams and her sister have decided that it’s time for their mother, Robbie, to go into a nursing home after she broke her hip. However, when DeeDee arrives in Fair Haven, Vermont, to help her mother clean out their farmhouse, she begins to uncover more of her family’s history and that of the house than she ever anticipated. Jumping from modern times to the 1850s, Gabe and Emma Hopper own the farm at Fair Haven and are staunch abolitionists. But when the unthinkable happens as they are trying to rescue a family, the Prescotts, who are fleeing to freedom, the Hoppers put away all that remains of their efforts. Now, as DeeDee is faced with the choice to sell or rent the beloved home, she must decide how to preserve the memory of Gabe and Emma’s heroic efforts. However, her family's and Gabe’s journeys are about to come unexpectedly full circle.

Rarely do I find a historical saga that keeps me reeled in as much as The Eternal Conductor by Debbie Garneau Griffin did. I admittedly lost many hours reading this novel, which was so exceptionally written down to the last detail. I did have one unanswered question, but I doubt the answer would have been forthcoming, even to the characters in the book, and that was what happened to Sarah? It certainly is a minor detail, but the gravity of her situation did make me think it wasn’t something good. Every character held sway for me, even the minor ones. I am so pleased to have been able to read such a beautiful saga. I fully recommend this novel to historical fiction fans as well as literary fiction fans. You will certainly not be disappointed.

Simone Stein

The Eternal Conductor is a novel with everything in it. It will take you from the 1800’s to modern times. You will get to know the Hopper family who lived in Fair Haven, VT and who helped slaves to freedom.

The Underground Railroad, the Civil War, and the fire at the Cocoanut Grove Hotel in Boston are a few of the true historical events depicted in this book. You will experience encounters with an apparition that could frighten you. This ghost, called Gabe, is a protector and stops at nothing to keep Dee Dee and Robbie safe in the Vermont town with more history than anyone knew.

This book shares the stories of Robbie and DeeDee that unveil their many life challenges and demonstrates their many strengths. Their survival through many personal tragedies will make you cry and laugh and be awed by their ability to survive at whatever life threw at them.

I grew up in this town and experienced so many memories as I walked with DeeDee down Main St.. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the Underground Railroad, history, ghosts ,and life . It is a great story and well worth reading.