Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Yellow Wife

There was a lot going on for such a short book. Once I got into this one I couldn't stop reading it. Pheby is a light-skinned slave girl that is promised freedom at 18 by her father (and master). Things don't go exactly as planned and she is forced to make the best of her circumstances. I thought this was one of the best historical fiction books I've read in awhile. Content warnings for violence that goes along with slavery (beatings, rape, and human cruelty).

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inhale_exhale_read's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wow, this was brutal at times to read (trigger warnings for just about everything), but it was such an incredible story. I kind of wish that I had read the Author's Note first, instead of at the end, because she talks about the true stories that inspired her writing and how she started researching. This book was fast-paced with incredibly well-developed characters and a world that is described with such meticulous detail that you will be surprised when you look up from your book and realize you are actually just sitting in your living room. Even though it is painful at times to read, the stories of these characters are so, so important. I would love it if the author would turn this into a multi-generational series.

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alexatthelake's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Thank you to Tandem Collective and Simon and Schuster for my copy of this incredible historical fiction novel. I have struggled for days to find the words to describe how this book made me feel and what I thought of it. Simply: incredible and heartbreaking. While Yellow Wife is a fiction novel, the author Sadeqa Johnson describes the real events and people who inspired her while writing this book. Yellow Wife will absolutely break your heart and question humanity, but also fill you with every other emotion.

Pheby is an incredible, stubborn, strong character who will make you feel every single emotion possible. Your heart will ache, break and piece back together and she describes the journey she goes through in her life. She was fierce, determined and incredibly loyal - all characteristics I love in my female characters. As for some other characters in this book, they will immediately become your most hated ones every written. It is hard to believe that people like this ever (and still do) exist, but that is another part of how well written this novel was, to open our eyes to that.

I read this book along with some wonderful fellow bookstagrammers, and we had chapters to read each day. I quickly found myself flying past the assigned reading chapters because I couldn't put the book down. I needed to know the outcome and what would happen to the characters lives. The chapters were on the shorter side, but they were filled with action, to keep the reader on their toes without feeling like it was rushed.

Hands down, this will be one of my favourite books of 2021, no doubt. It may even make it to the pile of favourite books of all time. I don't suggest, I demand you pick this book up and give it a read - but do be aware going into it that there are many trigger warnings including rape, slavery, child death, serious physical abuse and so much racism, among others.

Content Warnings