A review by triscuit807
Clearing Weather by Cornelia Meigs

4.0

I'm giving this one 4 stars in spite of some 1920s issues with race because the story was just that good. The setting is small town New England (probably Massachusetts), specifically a ship building town. It's early days post American Revolution and the country is far from united. There are Tories about who are engaged in undermining the new country (much as in The Codfish Musket which was set in the same period but on the frontier). The main protagonist is 20ish Nicholas Drury, nephew of a shipbuilder who has fallen on hard times. Drury comes up with a plan to save the firm: build a new ship in which the builders will have a stake rather than wages. Ranged against him is his uncle's former friend Cortland who has no desire to see any American enterprise succeed. Enter a dashing Frenchman, Etienne, and his dashing southern squire, Michael, and the shenanigans begin. On her maiden voyage the Jocasta sets sail first to the West Indies, then she deviates from her plan to sail to Europe and the Mediterranean and instead sails around the Horn for the Northwest to trade for furs with the Indians then onward to China. A voyage which was to be less than a year becomes twice that and everyone fears the Jocasta is lost. Is there racism in the book? Yes. There is a definite feeling that the First Peoples are both child-like, savage, and not to be trusted - given that no white speaks their language or attempts to do so, it's amazing any trade takes place. The Chinese are introduced first in a pirate attack and then in more hospitable quarters when trade begins. While Western European culture and initiative is lauded throughout, overall Chinese culture doesn't fare too badly. The most racist parts of the books are two of the three color plates, one depicting leering, snarling natives, the other leering, snarling Chinese pirates. But the depiction of Cortland is no better. It's as if the artist can depict villains only as leering and snarling. I read this for my 2017 Reading Challenge and my Newbery Challenge (Honor Book 1929).