When one hears the name “Dogtown”, they probably automatically assume that the place must be extremely run down and dilapidated, and have many questions as to what Dogtown actually is. But upon further examination, one would find so much more than a dilapidated town. In this ruin of a community there are bright hearts of diverse people coming together from opposite backgrounds, just for the sake of survival. Diamant vividly brings to life these citizens that defy the typical out view of their time and reach out, in her second historical fiction novel, The Last Days of Dogtown.

The novel opens in the early 19th century on the coast of Northern Massachusetts, in a region called Cape Ann. Dogtown is a quiet settlement where news is sure to travel fast - whether it is good or bad. At the center of this small group of people is our main character, Judy Rhines. Judy is a rarity for her time- a single woman living alone with no one to depend on. She helps everyone as much as she can, and they, in turn, help her too.

Easter Carter, also a single woman, quickly becomes a close confident to Judy. Easter always has an open-door policy and does anything for anyone that she can. Like the rest of Dogtown, she is scraping the bottom financially on her venture to the aid of others but she somehow always stretches the budget for those that need more than she does.

Living with Easter is Black Ruth. She is a runaway slave that sometimes dresses like a man so she can perform her hobby as a stonemason and also make a little money at the same time. She has come to Dogtown in search of her past, but will she ever truly find it? Diamant realistically brings in the relevant aspect of slavery through Ruth and displays the hospitality the Northerners show Ruth versus the prejudice that the South offered.

Sammy Stanley lives with his grandmother in a brothel. This is where fate has unfortunately placed him during his years of growing up. He learns all too fast about what is going on around him and his image of men in general is permanently scarred as a result. He decides at a young age that he does not want to be like the men that he sees - those men who use women for their pleasure and treat them like property - those men who cannot even figure out what to do with themselves.

Found as a teenager on the brink of manhood, Oliver Younger is still stuck living with his horrid aunt, Tammy Younger. She treats him like her slave for the longest time and he knows it is not right of her. To no surprise, Oliver leaves her to start a life of his own - to get married and have kids, and to live in his own house. He becomes one of the best men to ever come out of Dogtown and there seems to be no resemblance of his relation to his aunt.

Everyone has their secrets. Cornelius Finson is Judy Rhines’ secret and vice versa. Although one could not guess it, Cornelius and Judy once had quite the love affair. This information does not seem irregular until one learns who Cornelius is. He is a freed slave that has made his way up North to escape the memories of the South. He still finds life hard, however, away from all the plantations and slavery issues. Some still will not associate with him because of his skin colour. If word got out that he and Judy were more than friends, he would probably be killed. Someone did find out, though, and they were sure to mention it to Cornelius. For this reason, Cornelius disappeared from Judy’s life, leaving her in a load of heartache and wonder, and causing one of the biggest controversies in the novel.

All of these people have one thing in common - they are somehow brought out of Dogtown and in some way contribute to its destruction.

I found this novel very interesting and extremely authentic. It was not hard disappear into the lives of the characters and this region of the world was not one I had encountered before in historical fiction. It was time for me to get off of Europe’s shores for a while and onto some of my country’s soil. Since Diamant is also the author of The Red Tent, I was not expecting this from her yet I was pleasantly surprised and hope that many of you are as well.

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