This was a rather intense book. It had a somewhat slow start, but quickly picked up. The perspective is that of a young slave girl who ultimately finds her way to freedom. Based on the true story of Harriet Jacobs, this in an enthralling book.

"Letters from a Slave" girl made learning and reading about slavery interesting. ( )

This book is a fictionalized version of the life of Harriet Jacobs, told in the form of letters that she might have written during her slavery in North Carolina and as she prepared for escape to the North in 1842. This story details her early life and her eventual escape to the free North. So desperate is Harriet Jacobs for freedom, she lives in a tiny attic space for years rather than return to her cruel owners. The most striking thing about this book is its narrative voice. The story is told from the perspective of Harriet Jacobs, in fictional letters she writes to important people in her life, both dead and alive.

Natasha has an incredible review at Maw Books. All I can say is "Wow!"

Harriot Jacobs is born into slavery in the antebellum South. This story details her early life and her eventual escape to the free North. So desperate is Harriet Jacobs for freedom, she lives in a tiny attic space for years rather than return to her cruel owners. The most striking thing about this book is its narrative voice. The story is told from the perspective of Harriet Jacobs, in fictional letters she writes to important people in her life, both dead and alive. The writing captures the unique cadence, word choice and sentence structure of a black slave in the South in a way that makes Harriet Jacobs seem all the more alive and real. An appendix with photos and documents of the historical Harriet Jacobs increases the realistic setting and characters. ( )