A review by maries_reads
Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

TW: slavery, racism, rape, child loss, torture, sexual assault, child abuse, grief, miscarriage. 

Mild spoilers. 

An extremely powerful story based on Mary Lumpkin, a biracial “sex slave” of Robert Lumpkin - a sadistic and notorious slave trader and jailer in Richmond, VA. Pheby Delores Brown (based on Mary), is a biracial slave living on a plantation in Virginia. Her mother was raped by their slave owner, thus had Pheby. Pheby is treated better than most others on the plantation, given an education in both school subjects and arts. When the slave owner marries, Pheby is quickly targeted by the woman of the house, for her relationship to her husband, and because she’s too educated. After her mother’s and owners death, Pheby is sold to slave traders and taken to the notorious Devils Half Acre in Richmond (a real jail). There, she is purchased by the Jailer himself, and taken to be his “mistress.” Pheby learns to do what she can to survive, and her story continues in a heartbreaking tale of survival, loss, love for her children, and hope. 

Ms. Johnson encapsulated Phebys emotions so well. I feel transported back with her inner dialogue. I cried for and with Pheby. I reflected and continued to learn about America’s truly, truly abominable history. Ms. Johnson is a powerful writer, storyteller, and visionary. With this book alone, she has become an auto-buy author for me. 

My only “issue” with the writing was that some of the chapters seemed like they had a time jump but in reality it was picking up right where the last chapter left off. I had to restart several chapters because I thought she was speaking days or weeks later, only to realize it was mere hours. Otherwise a perfect book. 
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