Book Review: Yellow Wife book review | Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson review
Some books rip your heart out, and some proceed to stomp it into the ground. Yellow Wife is one of those books. Considering the synopsis (below), I knew this book would not be an easy read, and yet, I wasn't quite prepared for all the heart breaking violence Pheby experiences and witnesses. The author does not spare the reader in describing the horrific conditions slaves were subject to and for some readers it might be too much. You might want to investigate trigger warnings on this one. I came away with a renewed empathy, on a deeper level, for what slaves were subjected too. It left me grieving and shaking my head at the horrors man inflicts on one another. Pheby's narration and experience is unique. As the daughter of a slave and the plantation owner, her lighter skin does afford her some privileges, but it does not spare her a life of pain. The author succeeded in transplanting me into Pheby's world, sharing in her frustration, pain and longing for freedom. I found myself completely absorbed in this one and on the edge of my seat at the book's climax. Pheby's story is based on the real life of Mary Lumpkin and Lumpkin's jail in Richmond, Virginia.
I still have a hangover from this one. If you've read it, what are your thoughts?
Cover synopsis:
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.
