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70 pages 2 hours read

Shaunna J. Edwards, Alyson Richman

The Thread Collectors

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022

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Part 1, Chapters 1-15Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1

Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary: “New Orleans, Louisiana, March 1863”

Content Warning: This section contains descriptions of racism, racial violence, enslavement, lynching, sexual assault, graphic wartime violence, antisemitism, and the death of a child. This guide quotes and obscures the author’s use of the n-word.

In Union-controlled New Orleans, an enslaved Black man named William says goodbye to his lover, a biracial woman named Stella, in a Creole cottage. William is planning to flee the city that night. Stella gives him a handkerchief with a violet embroidered on it; because of the materials shortage caused by the Civil War, she had to use thread pulled from the hem of her skirt. In return, William gives Stella a cowrie shell. He promises to come back for her soon. After William departs, Stella’s older sister, Ammanee, comforts her.

Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary: “Camp Parapet, Jefferson, Louisiana”

William makes the treacherous 10-mile journey to Camp Parapet, a former Confederate Army camp that the Union commandeered. Along the way, he is nearly caught by a pack of bloodhounds, but he evades them by hiding in the bayou. At Camp Parapet, he joins hundreds of other Black men who have fled enslavement for a chance to join the Union Army. As he waits to be assessed in the medical tent, he touches Stella’s handkerchief for comfort.

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