The Invention of Wings

The Invention of Wings

by Sue Monk Kidd

Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis:  Hetty "Handful" Grimké, an urban slave in early-nineteenth-century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimké household.  The Grimkés' daughter Sarah, possessed of a ravenous intellect and mutinous ideas, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women.

Sue Monk Kidd's sweeping new novel is set in motion on Sarah's eleventh birthday in 1803, when she is given ownership of ten-year-old Handful, who is to be her handmaid.  The Invention of Wings follows their remarkable journeys over the next thirty-five years as both strive for lives of their own, dramatically shaping each other's destinies and forming a complex relationship marked by guilt, defiance, estrangement, and the uneasy ways of love.

As the stories build to a riveting climax, Handful will endure loss and sorrow, finding courage and a sense of self in the process.  Sarah will experience crushed hopes, betrayal, unrequited love, and ostracism before leaving Charleston to find her place alongside her fearless younger sister, Angelina, as one of the early pioneers in the abolition and women's rights movements.

Inspired in part by the historic figure of Sarah Grimké, Kidd goes beyond the record to flesh out the rich interior lives of all her characters, both real and invented, including Handful's cunning mother, Charlotte, who courts danger in her search for something better, and Charlotte's lover, Denmark Versey, a charismatic free black man who is planning insurrection. 

This exquisitely written novel is a triumph of storytelling that looks with unswerving eyes at one of the most devastating wounds in American history, through women whose struggles for liberation, empowerment, and expression will leave no reader unmoved.

from the book jacket

Becky's review:  This was a very well written historical fiction novel that told the story of a fictional slave and the real woman's family who owned her.  In the afterward, Kidd tells about what is fact and what is fiction which I appreciate.  Sarah Grimké was an abolitionist and befriend her slave, Handful and taught her to read and write which was illegal at the time.  I appreciated Handful's story and perspective on being a slave and the terrible things that did happen.  Once the story progressed and Sarah's beliefs got stronger and she began speaking out about slavery and women's rights, I felt that the book got a little preachy.  There were times I skimmed her story so that I could move onto Handful's story.  I also felt like the story got a little long and was a little anticlimactic.  I wish that the whole novel had had the movement that the first section had.

Becky's rating: 4 stars

Marcie's review: I wish I had known that the character of Sarah Grimké was actually a real person, I think that would have helped explain some of the awkwardness around Sarah's character.  While Handful was a fascinating character right from the beginning, Sarah seemed to be a wishy-washy background character until she was in middle age, at which point she dramatically shifted her views, turned Quaker, wanted to become a minister, and then became a famous spokesperson for the feminists and abolitionists.  This all makes sense when you realize that Kidd had access to information about Sarah as an adult, including her journal entries, articles, and interviews, but was likely unwilling to make too much up about her childhood, since she was a real person.  But I thought the story suffered for it.  However, this was an extremely well-written, enjoyable to read, fascinating historical account of the life of two very different women in the time before the Civil War. 

I was also annoyed that Sarah didn't keep ownership of Handful so that Sarah could free her herself when she came of age.  But I suppose that didn't actually happen, and wouldn't have made for quite as interesting of a story anyway.

Marcie's rating: 4 stars

The Wedding Gift

The Wedding Gift

by Marlen Suyapa Bodden

Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis:  Despite their disparate circumstances, the lives of these two women in 1852 Alabama are inextricably entwined: Sarah, a slave who is the daughter of the master of a vast plantation, and Theodora, his wife.  Their journey is one that both binds them together and sets them free.

When prestigious plantation owner Cornelius Allen gives his daughter's hand in marriage, she takes with her a gift: Sarah-her slave and half sister.  Theodora knows that her daughter, Clarissa, is not the proper Southern belle she appears to be, with ambitions of loving whom she chooses.  Sarah, in turn hides behind the facade of being a docile house slave as she plots to escape.  Both women bring these tumultuous secrets and desires with them to their new home, igniting events that spiral into a tale beyond what you ever imagined possible, and it will leave you enraptured until the very end.

From the book jacket

Review:  This is a much more honest book about slavery than the other ones I've read.  It talked about about some of the horrific treatments of slaves but also about how kind some of the masters could be.  While it was honest, it wasn't too hard to read because it didn't focus on those events-you could skim past those events if you are really squeamish.  The book focuses on the lives of the two women who are connected together by the plantation.  This story wasn't action packed but it did keep my attention and made it hard for me to put the book down.  There was some suspense that you could try to guess but wasn't confirmed until the very last page when Sarah talks about what she had to do.  I felt this book fell a little bit short because of the characters.  I didn't have an emotional connection to them as I have in other books.  I wanted to keep reading to find out what happened to them but I didn't feel their emotions.

Rating: 4 stars

The Kitchen House

The Kitchen House

Kathleen Grissom

Genre: Historical Fiction

Summary (from Goodreads):  When a white servant girl violates the order of plantation society, she unleashes a tragedy that exposes the worst and best in the people she has come to call her family. Orphaned while onboard ship from Ireland, seven-year-old Lavinia arrives on the steps of a tobacco plantation where she is to live and work with the slaves of the kitchen house. Under the care of Belle, the master's illegitimate daughter, Lavinia becomes deeply bonded to her adopted family, though she is set apart from them by her white skin.

Eventually, Lavinia is accepted into the world of the big house, where the master is absent and the mistress battles opium addiction. Lavinia finds herself perilously straddling two very different worlds. When she is forced to make a choice, loyalties are brought into question, dangerous truths are laid bare, and lives are put at risk.

Review: This story about family relationships paints a dark picture of slavery in the south around the turn of the 19th century.  While I loved reading about Lavinia and Mama Mae's extended family, the constant trials and tribulations faced by the slaves and the white women got a little depressing.  I understand that the tragedies they faced were likely common during that time, but I wish something good had happened to someone, or that the story had ended with some hope.  Lavinia was a little naive and weak, but perhaps that was a reflection of her lack of true family.  And I found the narrations by Belle to be a little distracting.  At the same time, I couldn't put the book down, and read eagerly to see what would happen next.  I found myself caring deeply about the characters and appreciating the glimpse into life on a Southern plantation.

Rating: 4 stars (maybe 4.5 stars)

The House Girl

The House Girl

by Tara Conklin

Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis: Two remarkable women, separated by more than a century, whose lives unexpectedly intertwine . . .

2004: Lina Sparrow is an ambitious young lawyer working on a historic class-action lawsuit seeking reparations for the descendants of American slaves.

1852: Josephine is a seventeen-year-old house slave who tends to the mistress of a Virginia tobacco farm—an aspiring artist named Lu Anne Bell.

It is through her father, renowned artist Oscar Sparrow, that Lina discovers a controversy rocking the art world: art historians now suspect that the revered paintings of Lu Anne Bell, an antebellum artist known for her humanizing portraits of the slaves who worked her Virginia tobacco farm, were actually the work of her house slave, Josephine.

A descendant of Josephine's would be the per-fect face for the lawsuit—if Lina can find one. But nothing is known about Josephine's fate following Lu Anne Bell's death in 1852. In piecing together Josephine's story, Lina embarks on a journey that will lead her to question her own life, including the full story of her mother's mysterious death twenty years before.

Alternating between antebellum Virginia and modern-day New York, this searing tale of art and history, love and secrets explores what it means to repair a wrong, and asks whether truth can be more important than justice.

From the publisher

Review: I really liked this book. It takes place in two time periods and I really enjoyed reading about the women in both time periods. The story of Josephine was so compelling and as I was reading, I couldn't wait to find out more of her story.  Luckily, we find out a lot about Josephine from Lina, the modern day woman who is a lawyer working on a slavery reparations case. This book made me think about why there hasn't been a major slavery reparations case or if there has been one that I'm not familiar with.  There were parts of the story that I thought were superfluous, i.e., the story about Lina's mother and the possible romance between Lina and another character. I know the author was trying to give Lina more depth but I didn't think those parts added to story.  There were also parts about Lina's father's art and Lina's emotional reactions to them that seemed out of character and there were times I didn't understand why Lina reacted the way she did. I primarily read this book for the story of Josephine and how Lina tracked down her history.  Overall, this was a good, fast read. 

Rating:  4 stars

The Last Runaway

The Last Runaway

by Tracy Chevalier

Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis:  Honor Bright is a modest English Quaker with a broken heart. Emigrating to Ohio with her sister in the hope of making a new life, she soon discovers that 19th-century America hard, precarious place to live. Its people are practical and unsentimental, its climate challenging. Even its quilts are different from those she makes. Moreover, it is divided by slavery, legal in southern states and opposed by many northerners.

One day a runaway slave appears in the farmyard of Honor’s new family, and she must decide what to do. Even Quakers - famed for championing human equality - may hesitate to break the laws of the land. Drawn into the clandestine activities of the Underground Railroad, a network of people helping runaways escape to freedom, Honor befriends two surprising women who demonstrate what defiance can achieve. Eventually she must decide if she too can act on what she believes in, whatever the personal costs.

Review: I very much enjoyed this book.  The main character, Honor Bright, is a mixed up young Quaker who feels compelled to help runaway slaves even though her family does not condone the activity.  Honor has to do some soul searching and figure out who she is and what is willing to give up to help others.  The story portrays the simple life of the Quakers in the mid 1800s and the life in early settlements in Ohio. Some of the story is written in the form of letters written by Honor to her family and friend back in England.  These letters capture her feelings even better than the prose of the novel.  We really get to know Honor and her inner workings.  I did not like a few of the characters but I don't think the reader was supposed to like them. I gave this book 4 stars as opposed to 5 because there were parts of the story that seemed superfluous and there was a lack of action in parts of the book.  While it wasn't a slow read, there were parts that were slow.  Overall, this was a very pleasurable read and a story that I haven't read before.

Rating: 4 stars