#2 (2012)

Property by Valerie Martin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The year is 1828





.....a sugar plantation in Louisiana, where Slavery is in flower for both the slaves and slave owners



The Slave Owners see “slave rebellions” around every corner..as they should, since their entire way of life is dependent on the labor of their “lowly blacks”.....and, our “heroine” Manon Gaudet, is no exception...though she is but the wife of a boorish “Massa”, Manon is not stupid...just crippled by her social status (she is “chattel” to her husband, as much as his slaves) and her relationship to Sarah (her personal slave..and her husband’s mistress..mother to his bastard children)



This is not a pretty story....and Manon’s situation isn’t new (how many women do you know who resent their husband’s cheating...but, merely, seethe...rather than kick the bastard out??)...but I admire Ms Martin’s delivery here..



The story is told in Manon’s “cold” voice...full of anger and frustration... I actually felt sorry for her



Sarah?......had a taste of Freedom....was captured and returned



I find the last pages painfully ironic...where Manon is “dumbfounded” by certain aspects of Sarah’s oh-so-short Freedom



Recommended



4 Stars





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