‘Different Hearts’ brings two cultures together

"DIFFERENT HEARTS — From Bondage to Freedom"

Book review

Book: “Different Hearts — From Bondage to Freedom”

Author: E.B. Sullivan

Publisher: Solstice Publishing, October 2012, 360 pages, softcover and Kindle version

Two cultures come together in “Different Hearts — From Bondage to Freedom,” a historical fiction by E.B. Sullivan.

Sophie, daughter of a successful Rhode Island businessman, meets Ezra, a Miwok Indian raised to be a slave, when she journeys out west to claim a parcel of land.

Despite the differences in their station in life, the emotional baggage both of them carry and the prejudices of the time, they forge a friendship that turns to romance.

Sullivan lays the foundation for these two lives in the 1840s.

Sophie’s conventional upbringing with its restrictions and limitations on women and Ezra’s unconventional upbringing in the heart of the Gold Country as a Miwok child of rape with society’s prejudice and restrictions against Native Americans sets the stage.

As the two grow to adulthood and suffer loss during the Civil War, their experiences build their characters. When they meet in the 1860s, each brings compassion and a determination to protect those they love to their relationship.

“Different Hearts” is Sullivan’s first novel and was inspired by her move to El Dorado County seven years ago.

“We have 60 acres in the Happy Valley area and I was inspired by the land,” said Sullivan. “I wanted to know more about the history of the area and so I started researching it and this idea came to me.”

One aspect of her research that appalled her was the treatment of Native Americans in California.

“I don’t think too many people know that they were indentured servants or slaves until a certain age,” she said.

The success of writing her first book has spawned a variety of work, including Sullivan’s novella, “A Christmas Guardian Angel,” in the newly released Christmas Anthology, now available in audio book, e-book and softcover format.

Her second book, “Bloom Forever,” is scheduled for a January, 2013 release.

“It’s a contemporary fiction about a psychopathic killer and that people, no matter what their childhood was like, can make a choice about how they let it affect their lives,” said Sullivan, a retired psychologist.

“In my work, I’ve found that all people, deep in their hearts, know the difference between right and wrong. It’s a choice you make, regardless of your experiences,” she said.

Both “Different Hearts” and “The Christmas Anthology” are available online at amazon.com or solsticepublishing.com.

Wendy Schultz

Wendy Schultz has been a columnist for the Mountain Democrat since 2002 and a staff writer since 2005. She covers Placerville city events and City Council meetings, writes feature stories and reports on things of interest in El Dorado County.

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