Langhorn and Mary: A 19th Century American Love Story

Langhorn and Mary: A 19th Century American Love Story by Priscula Stone Sharp Ambrosia Books, January 2003 $25.95, ISBN 0-972-75190-4

In Langhorn and Mary, Priscilla Stone Sharp paints a memorable tapestry of love and survival against the riveting, vibrant canvas of prc-Civil War America. Sharp embarks on a genealogical journey, peeling back layers of family past and history to reveal a most unlikely, surprising tale in the midst of turbulence and heartache.

The novel tells the story of the author's German-American aunt, Mary Stone Wellings, and her 30-year marriage to a free African American named Langhorn H. Wellings at a time when Pennsylvania is the only state to recognize their union and interracial marriages are unheard of elsewhere.

A reader desiring only a love story may skim pages of ponderous research. The fastidious reader will be rewarded by the history.

-Claudia Sarden