Review: Thought Provoking Historical Novel
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 15, 2014
I enjoyed reading this novel.  The idea of a wealthy plantation owner producing a child with his slave is not new.  Nor is allowing slave families to be torn apart, whipped by overseers, or raped because "slaves don't have emotions, so they can't feel anything."  However, the way this story was written was definitely thought provoking.Deborah and her mother, Sarah, lived on "Master Thomas'" plantation. Thomas' son, William, raped Deborah, even though Thomas told him to stay away from Deborah.  William was sent away to England, and then Richard, Thomas' nephew, came to the Barbados plantation specifically to learn more about dealing with slaves.  All the white people in the book felt as though slaves were beneath them, and were more like horses than people. Richard ended up buying Deborah from Thomas, and in exchange for sleeping with him, he guaranteed to free Deborah.  Of course she wanted to be free all her life.Deborah, the daughter of Sarah and Thomas, was such a strong female character.  She put thoughts about slavery into Richard's mind that totally changed not only his outlook, but her father's, too.  I was glad to read that Thomas freed Sarah, too, and that the women were able to be successful as business women in town.I won't spoil the ending, but it was happy!There were several editing issues, which is why I gave four stars instead of five.