Yellow Wife: A Novel [L0157]

2021 PB in nice clean condition. From the New York Times bestselling author of House of Eve - a 2023 Reese's Book Club Pick! *A Best Book of the Year by NPR and Christian Science Monitor* Called "wholly engrossing" by New York Times bestselling author Kathleen Grissom, this "fully immersive" (Lisa Wingate, #1 bestselling author of Before We Were Yours) story follows an enslaved woman forced to barter love and freedom while living in the most infamous slave jail in Virginia. Born on a plantation in Charles City, Virginia, Pheby Delores Brown has lived a relatively sheltered life. Shielded by her mother's position as the estate's medicine woman and cherished by the Master's sister, she is set apart from the others on the plantation, belonging to neither world. She'd been promised freedom on her eighteenth birthday, but instead of the idyllic life she imagined with her true love, Essex Henry, Pheby is forced to leave the only home she has ever known. She unexpectedly finds herself thrust into the bowels of slavery at the infamous Devil's Half Acre, a jail in Richmond, Virginia, where the enslaved are broken, tortured, and sold every day. There, Pheby is exposed not just to her Jailer's cruelty but also to his contradictions. To survive, Pheby will have to outwit him, and she soon faces the ultimate sacrifice.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "This book is incredible in so many ways. It is so well-written and so detailed; you can practically see, hear, feel, and smell everything Ms. Johnson describes. But it is also incredibly hard to read, emotionally, for those very same reasons. And even though it is historical fiction based in part on reality, it is still a story that needs to be told. I thank Ms. Johnson for bringing this particular story to life in such stunning clarity."; "It's not an easy read. I had to stop and breathe through the beatings and the impossible choices, and I cried for Monroe more than once. But that's why it works. The writing is beautiful and intimate, and it never lets you look away from what motherhood cost under slavery. If you want a cozy escape, this isn't it. If you want a book that will break you open and make you remember the characters long after you close it, read it. Simply outstanding-- 10 stars!!!"; "This book is filled with love, birth, death, betrayal, and dreams deferred. Historical fiction at its best, based on the true accounts of Mary Lumpkin, this is definitely a classic that should be read in high schools and college institutions all over the world. I highly recommend!"