The Yellow Wife
Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson is a book that will stay with me forever. This story was heart wrenching, detailed, and real. From the time I picked this book up, I knew I would not put it down till I finished it in one sitting.
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.
A remarkably written historical fiction set in the 1850s that was inspired by a real family and a real jail in Virginia rekindles the discussion and study of slavery. The harsh realities of those dark chapters in American history are presented with brute and graphic bluntness but remain eloquent in their presentation. It makes for a strange but savory contrast, to read about something so dreadful yet have it conferred with such sophistication.
I felt so many raw emotions ranging from love, hate, fear and gut wrenching sorrow, as I read about families being torn apart without a care. The characters and situations throughout the book were well developed and I felt for them and cried for them as I would any real person.
Pheby’s story is one that will stay with me. I’m still speechless and cannot even put into words the courage each woman in this story exhibited. How they had to live all while trying to protect the ones they loved made them heroic.
The surreal nature of the narrative makes the reality of slavery even more present and vivid. It is hard to grasp, and yet essential that we do, our recent history and how it continues to shape our present. Sadeqa Johnson has written a bold novel that will hold you from the opening pages and not release you, even after you come to its end…and maybe even not then. If you are a fan of The Underground Railroad or Kitchen House, then this book is for you. I cannot recommend it enough.
Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for my gifted copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
