Wench

Dolen Perkins-Valdez tells a story of strength, perseverance, and warped relationships in Wench. The novel, set in 1852, follows the story of Lizzie, Reenie, Sweet, and Mawu, mistresses who travel with their masters to an idyllic resort in Ohio. The protagonist is Lizzie, an enslaved woman whose story ranges from her childhood to her journey through motherhood. Additionally, her connection and level of care toward her friends and family cause an internal struggle when given the opportunity to join other mistresses looking to escape to the North. Perkins-Valdez emphasizes the moral codes that differ from Lizzie and the other mistresses’ “homes” and at the Tawawa resort in Ohio. This novel reveals painful but true relationships between mistresses and slaveowners. This book had me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what Lizzie does next. The novel is engulfed in moral and ethical dilemmas, and each character's development has you questioning the development and lives of each woman. Loyalties are tested, motherhood is questioned, and relationships that have not been defined in the history books are described. It is always interesting and difficult to not like a main character, and Lizzie's character development in Wench tested my ability to understand and sympathize for her. I am appreciative of a voice like Perkins-Valdez, who gave a whole group of women a story, and told it with vivid language and tear-jerking chapters.

"Inside the cottage, Lizzie felt human. She could lift her eyes and speak the English Drayle had taught her. She could run her hands along the edges of things in the parkour-two chairs, a sofa, a wooden table, a tall oil lamp with a milk glass base, a cast-iron stove- as if they were hers"

Lizzie is a complicated character, and Wench explores relationships that examine the social structure of the time as well as ethical shortcomings.