Jacob Have I Loved

Infobox Book
name = Jacob Have I Loved
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = "Jacob Have I Loved" book cover
author = Katherine Paterson
illustrator =
cover_artist = Chris Sheban
country = United States
language = English
series =
subject =
genre = Historical novel
publisher = Avon Books
release_date = 1980
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 263
isbn = ISBN 0-380-56499-8
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Jacob Have I Loved" is a novel by Katherine Paterson that won the 1981 Newbery Medal. The title refers to the sibling rivalry between Jacob and Esau in the Jewish and Christian Bible, and comes directly from the Romans 9:13. The verse states, "As it is written, "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."

Set in the early 1940s on an island called Rass Island in Chesapeake Bay, the novel follows the story of the Bradshaws, a family who depends on the father, Truitt, and his crabbing/fishing business, on his boat, the "Portia Sue". Truitt's two daughters, Sara Louise and Caroline, are twins--and Caroline is always ahead. She is prettier, smarter, more talented, and kinder. Frail, artistic Caroline receives more attention from their parents, and others in the community.

The book traces Louise's attempts to free herself from Caroline's shadow, even as she grows into adulthood.

Characters in "Jacob Have I Loved"

*Sara Louise Bradshaw Most of the other characters in the novel refer to Sara Louise as "Wheeze", a nickname she detests, which her twin sister Caroline made up. Sara Louise resents her sister because she feels Caroline overshadows her in everything. Only her mother, Susan, calls her "Louise", and only the Captain (Hiram Wallace) calls her "Sara Louise". At the beginning of the novel, Louise is contented and proud that she is the child her father depends on to help him through the crabbing season. Yet as she grows older, she becomes frustrated with the tireless attention Caroline receives and attempts to become more feminine — to no avail. After growing up in the oppressive situation of playing second-fiddle to her golden-haired sister, Sara Louise eventually leaves the island to move to a small town in the mountains.

*Caroline Bradshaw Caroline is Sara Louise's younger twin sister, and from the moment of her birth, she basked in the loving attention of all who surround her. Although Caroline is often self-centered, she is beautiful, and blessed with a lovely voice. Caroline's overwhelming personality causes constant agony for Louise, whether intentional or unintentional. Near the end of the novel, she marries Louise's longtime companion McCall Purnell (Call).

*McCall Purnell "Call" is Louise's childhood friend. He, too, grew up on the island along with Caroline and Louise. Being fat and an outcast, Louise took him as her own best friend — but when Call eventually marries Caroline, Louise views this as the ultimate case of Caroline stealing everything for herself. Caroline and Call move to New York, and Louise, realizing she will never be free of Caroline's shadow, leaves the island for good.

*Hiram Wallace "The Captain" was Louise's first crush. Considered a heathen by most of the island, he too is an outcast. Near the end of the novel, Sara Louise discovers that her grandmother, in her youth, also hid a childish obsession with the Captain, who used to be a handsome adolescent.

*Susan Bradshaw She is the mother to Sara Louise and Caroline. She came to the small island, a good-looking college graduate who became the new school teacher. She met Truitt Bradshaw and married him. She is a kind woman who loves her children more than anything and is proud of her now simple life. She is often verbally assaulted by her bible-thumping mother-in-law, "Grandmother".

*Grandmother "Grandmother" was a part of the Bradshaw household when Louise and Caroline were growing up, and was something of a religious zealot. Her two lines of life were "I love the Lord" and "I hate the water". Grandmother is the one character who seems to recognize the profundity of Louise's resentment toward Caroline. Near the end of the story, it is she who tauntingly quotes the biblical passage that provides the novel's title, "Jacob have I loved..."