This is the story of Alice. She sets sale for America from London in the 1700's. Along the way her Mom and two brothers die. Upon reaching Boston, her father sells her into slavery until she is 18 years old.
Her time with this family goes by pretty well at first. The man teaches her to read and treats her well. But then his daughter gets married with Alice is around 15 and Alice becomes the property of the new husband.
This husband forces himself upon her and beats her. When the wife founds out, she lashes out as Alice, blaming her.
After one night that is particularly bad, Alice decides to run away. She sneaks on board a ship and when found, is lucky not to be taken back to Boston. The widow who finds her decides to keep her until Alice finds work. However, Alice stays with the Widow and her other boarder, Mr. Freeman.
Soon, however, Alice realizes she is with child and it belongs to her old master. She tries to hide it because she is ashamed of it.
So what happens when Alice does give birth?
Wow! That's all I'm going to say, is Wow!
Nah, not going to let you off that easy. I just really really liked this book. It is the first I have read by the author, but wont' be the last. I really liked Alice. At times I wanted to shake her and tell her to wise up...but at other times I felt for her because she didn't know what to do and was just so confused and overwhelmed. I liked the other two main characters, the Widow and Mr. Freeman. I really recommend this book, to those who like historical fiction and even those who don't.
new author/fiction/ 304 pgs
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