This review is waaaaay over due (sorry!!) but I dug up my review for this one recently in my notebook so better late than never. I really loved this one!

This is a book with a story that will grab you and keep you engaged until the end with its great characters, fantastic historical references and its real and honest mentions almost talks about social issues and problems.
I also really enjoyed the writing and how this book was plotted in a way that i just kept wanting to turn the page and never stop reading.
wroth a read!

This story grabs you and doesn’t let go. Character development, historical references, and social issues...all told in an engaging, page-turning manner. Highly recommend this book.

This is my review on Goodreads:

"I was able to read a copy from Netgalley in exchange for a review, thank you!

I found this to be a solid 4 star read. I was initially attracted to the setting, a floating theater, how cool is that?! I enjoyed the story as well and felt the characters were wonderfully depicted. I had no idea where the story was going and it got more and more interesting as it neared the end. It also seems to be titled The Underground River."

I really enjoyed this one and I look forward to more from the author in the future!

Not my type of book unfortunately. to say...which is a shame

Many thanks to Martha Conway, Touchstone, and Netgalley for the free copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

May and her cousin, Comfort, trawl the smalltime theatres of the Pre Civil War period to make a living. Comfort acts, May sews the costumes. When a steamboat on which they are traveling catches fire they are separated each to find her own way in life.
May learns about business and family on a steamboat that hosts plays and other vaudeville type entertainment along the Ohio river. Comfort becomes involved in the Abolitionist movement. Eventually their paths cross again, and May has to decide if her steadfast principles are worth changing to save lives.

This was a factionalized account of the growth of towns and populations along the Ohio River in the mid nineteenth century. What the author proposes in these pages are certain possibilities. The river was a natural division line between the North and the South. Docking this "floating theatre" on one side of the shore was completely different from the other side even though they were only a few miles apart. The Fugitive Slave Act had not been passed as the book's events unfolded, but the river was an assumed route of escape. The author does a good job of putting a conscience to these characters. The reader can actually empathize with May and cheer for her to do what he or she would do.

This was an original idea. I've never read about the steamboats that traveled to entertain in the mid 1800s. I had no idea what that life was like. Thank you, Conway, for a new perspective.

I had really high expectations for this book and it completely delivered on every one of them! Addictive writing, an amazing story and a fascinating cast of characters. LOVED IT.

Great book with loads of twists and turns and will have you hooked from the first page.

Usually when I rate a book 5 stars I immediately know why. Otherwise I default to 4 stars as I usually have a critique or two. The Floating Theatre is a bit different in that I really, really enjoyed it; but wasn't immediately convinced it was a 5 star book. But upon a couple hours of contemplation I've realized I cannot come up with any major flaws. Therefore 5 stars it is!

This is an enchanting and enjoyable book. Now I know you're thinking... um... Mel isn't it about slavery? Well yes, but it's also about theatre, a young woman finding her voice, an unlikely romance, and a cast of characters that you could write entire books about.
Ironically the slavery part is a small portion of the book. Now it's the obvious climax of the book and plays a major part; but the first 65% of the book isn't really about slavery. It is noticed by our lead gal, May, that slavery is only on one side of the river. She continually expresses to herself how she's made uncomfortable by it as she tells her story. On a few occasions May is horrified by what she sees but up until the point in which she is forced to 'choose a side' she remains a silent protester. The typical American woman in the 1800's. Keep quiet, do your own thing and keep out of trouble.

I don't want to give any plot away that isn't obvious from the blurb. So let's talk about characters instead. While the plot is excellent and moves at a good pace; creating tension and stress for the reader, it's really the characters that endeared me to The Floating Theatre. Our lead gal May tells the story, as though it's her memoir. Offering occasional moments of commentary like she 'didn't know it at the time' but would 'soon learn' phrases. Then we have her cousin, who's a good example of a waste of air. The Captain of our Floating Theatre, whose charming and you can't help but just love him. Our cast of theatre folks who are a troop all on their own. Finally there is a lady who is our catalyst.. I can't call her a villain as I think that is not quite right. However there is no doubting that she manipulates everyone around her to her will. Whether it's with sugar and promises, money, blackmail or good ole negotiation tactics. While I dislike her the most of our main cast of characters, she's actually the second most interesting person next to May. I am always intrigued by morally subject characters; especially women during a time when women didn't have near as much power as they do today.

Overall if you like stories about the 1830's before slavery was abolished, are interested in theatre in any small way, and like a good coming into her own story I think you will enjoy this book. I found it intriguing and a very unique way of looking at how the whites were affected or conflicted by slavery. However, this is not a rah-rah, underground railroad type story. It's more a story of a girl who gets accidentally caught up between the north and south sides of a river that divide a nation's opinion on slavery.
I look forward to this coming out in trade paperback so I can add it to my collection of historical fiction that I would easily recommend again, and certainly read again myself.
And I will be looking for more by Martha Conway in the future.

A beautiful and captivating read (to match that stunning cover!).
I loved Conway's prose and felt completely absorbed in this story. I was excited from page 1 and was sad to turn the last page. Wonderful.

Thanks Touchstone and netgalley for this ARC.

Innocence lost, love blooms, and healing between friends and lovers make the struggles in the novel relate able today.

I read and reviewed this book when it was available previously as The Underground River. I didn't realize it was the same book when requesting it again.

I received this ARC from netgalley.com in exchange for a review. I unknowingly requested and received copies of this book under two different titles, The Underground River and The Floating Theatre.

Set aboard a nineteenth century riverboat theater, May works as a seamstress. Traveling up and down the Ohio River and stopping in many different towns, May becomes involved in rescuing and transporting run away slaves to the north.

The majority of the book is about May working and living on the riverboat, the slavery aspect is always in the background (it's 1838) but it doesn't really play into the story until the last half of the book.

It was a slow building story, there were pages and pages and pages of descriptions of the boat and theatre. I felt it was over explained and dull reading. I would have liked more depth of character building than scene descriptions.

3☆

Strong female character makes this otherwise bland book readable. Self reliant May Bedloe finds herself involved in underground railroad activities in exchange for repayment of a debt. The danger and uncertainty of the American Civil War is accurate but a little lack lustre. Only my opinion.

The Ohio River was a boundary separating free and slave states in pre-Civil War Ohio. In 1838, May Bedloe, seamstress and dresser, boarded the steamboat Moselle with cousin Comfort Vertue. Comfort was traveling with May to St. Louis seeking new acting opportunities. Unfortunately, the Moselle was doomed when four boilers exploded. Chaos ensued and May, swimming to shore, was unable to locate Comfort. Days later, May discovered that Comfort was being housed by Mrs. Howard, a wealthy abolitionist. Mrs. Howard thought Comfort was ideally suited to speak at abolitionist rallies. After all, a trained actress could sway a crowd. Mrs. Howard convinces Comfort that May needs to be independent and would love living on her own. Nothing could be further from the truth.

May Bedloe, 22 years old, is socially backward, literal and has a straight forward nature. May derives comfort from sewing a perfectly straight hemline. She believes that a good costume helps an actor feel his or her part. Sewing makes her forget the unfamiliar, strange world she has entered. Mrs. Howard pushes May to leave for home by giving her twenty dollars for the fare. May takes the money but has nowhere to go. Looking for work along the Ohio River, she notices The Floating Theatre, a two -story flatbed boat. Thaddeus Mason, actor, opportunist and fellow Moselle survivor, convinces Floating Theatre owner, Captain Hugo Cushing to hire him as an actor and May as seamstress since May has twenty dollars to lend financially strapped Hugo for a much needed boat pump.

The Floating Theatre is a small acting troupe consisting of five actors and three actresses. They usually give one performance in each town large enough to draw a crowd, working both sides of the Ohio River, performing in free and slave states. May starts to blossom within this family of sorts. Instead of eating meals alone, she now eats family style with the cast. She has become indispensable to Hugo. Besides sewing costumes and making clothing repairs, she can fill in for the piano player, design admission tickets, put posters up in town and supply complimentary tickets to important townspeople. The goal is to pack the house for each performance. Gently and patiently, Hugo has mentored May on the fine points of acting success. He tells her to never underestimate the power of children because they will beg their parents to see the show. Never promise something you won't deliver. If you promise magic tricks, deliver the magic. Additionally, do not get involved in the fight for emancipation.

All is going well for May until she is visited by her cousin Comfort and Mrs. Howard. Mrs. Howard wants her twenty dollars back since May did not use the money for a ticket home. Mrs. Howard tells May that she can work off her debt by delivering a few packages as The Floating Theatre travels downstream. She will have to break the law to comply. The deliveries place her acting family in harms way. What would Hugo think of her deliveries after all the kindness, consideration and budding feelings developing between them?

"The Floating Theatre" by Martha Conway is a historical novel showcasing the tight knit and family bonding of a group of traveling actors as they provided yearly, much anticipated, entertainment to farmers, merchants and their families. May became an unlikely conductor of the Underground Railroad by delivering small packages after troupe performances and in the dark of night. The character development of each member of the troupe was excellent. Each actor had his own story to tell. Kudos to Martha Conway.

Thank you Bonnier Zaffre and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "The Floating Theatre".

Let me start off by saying even though this is a new to me author this won't be the last book I read by, Martha Conway. The book is unlike any I have read in a long while. This book is absolutely amazing and held my attention gripped in it's claws right from the start. Taking place for the majority on a nineteenth century riverboat theater a small flatboat ,Hugo and Helena’s Floating Theatre. It lazily cruises the river between the northern states and the slave owning southern states.
May is hired as a seamstress,office manager,and when she goes to town she is to pass out hand bills advertising the shows. Now these floating theater shows do sound very interesting. I would have enjoyed seeing one myself. Unknown to May , and here's the interesting part,she get's blackmailed into working with a network of shady characters who ferry babies given up by their slaves mother's,so the babies can have a better life and a chance at freedom. She does this in the early morning hours when she should be sleeping to get her rest for her "real" job. This becomes very tiresome for her. Will she be able to keep up this pace without slipping up and making a mistake or saying something during the day, especially when others start to become suspicious of her behavior? When a 14 year old slave mother refuses to leave her baby but isn't taken with him what is to happen next? Read how it all goes down. The dynamics of this book are just incredible!
Pub Date 20 Jun 2017
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy in exchange for my honest review.

I found the writing style of the book to be very hard to get into and I ended up not finishing this book.

Thank Netgalley and the publisher Bonnier Zaffre for an advance e-copy in return for an honest (ad not necessarily positive) online review.
This book has a beautiful cover, which is perfect for this beautiful and charming novel.

Although the novel was not what I thought it would be. The blurb states that the main protagonist May is blackmailed into smuggling slaves from South to North on the Floating Theatre where she is employed as a seamstress. If you are looking for a dark moral commentary on slavery then this is not the novel for you. The book glimpses into slavery through the eyes of May, who is very much the innocent young girl, although she has a very literal view point (possibly on the autistic spectrum). This makes her a perfect commentator. She is astute enough to see that abolitionists tend to be noisy bullies, the Slave Hunters buoyed by money, and good normal people prefer to turn a blind eye to the fate of those in front of them. But she also sees the hard life of the slaves themselves, being horrified that a slave cage has a smaller cage for children, and towns flogging posts where runaway slaves, and those who help them are flogged.

May learns a lot about herself through the novel, and this novel is a coming of age novel for her as she finishes the novel far more grown up and worldly wise than at the beginning. In fact I am hoping there will be a second novel as I get the feeling that her story isn’t finished yet.

Really enjoyed this tale of May Bedloe, our heroine who has always followed in her cousin's wake. She triumphs through adversity and finds herself in a tricky situation after landing on her feet by chance. An interesting insight into the states either side of the Ohio river...

I really enjoyed the different characters in the book. Despite the large cast, I felt I got to grips with the players in the floating theatre plus May's awful cousin Comfort.

I was particularly drawn to Theo and Leo and could vividly imagine some of the scenes. An enjoyable book with a historical flavour 4*