Mary Maillard’s extensively researched monograph is an essential guide for readers of the coming-of-age letters of Penelope, Tristrim, and Eliza Harwood Skinner, as well as a general introduction to antebellum southern culture in North Carolina and Virginia. Maillard, a documentary editor, reconstructs longstanding kinship links between the Lowthers of Edenton, North Carolina, and of Williamsburg, spanning nearly a hundred years and mirroring the founding of the nation. Intertwined in their story is that of the Perquimans county Skinners who evolved in three generations from antislavery Quaker farmers to slaveholding planter elites.

A Map of Time and Blood presents an excellent four-generation overview of a southern family and chronicles the entire lives of brother and sister Tristrim and Penelope Skinner – from their first days at school until their untimely deaths. During the course of their story we learn much about antebellum family life, the precarious nature of being a belle, the prevalence of Victorian romanticism in southern youth culture, and the political education of a southern planter and future Confederate officer.

For readers who may not have time to read the primary source documents in the Skinner Family Papers, Maillard’s introduction to the letters provides a scholarly and highly readable alternative.

Available in the following formats, Epub 9780991789368;
Kindle 978-0-9917893-7-5.