![]() She is a Native American, a survivor of a small pox outbreak and the subsequent torching of her village. Lina is the eldest of three helper women on Jakob’s farm, a mother and friend to Rebekka. Rebekka is outwardly a free white woman, but truly was sold by her parents to be Jakob’s wife no less than any black slave. Jakob is a kindly merchant/farmer, eager to help the unfortunate, always recalling his own humble, even desperate childhood. We see Florens’ experience with owners, families and yearnings old and new. Except for one chapter by Florens’ mother, the rest of the book is third person. She speaks in the first person giving us a look from inside her skin. Set in the late 17th century, this is an ensemble story. ![]() Yet there are ways to find space between the bars. ![]() While skin color may have defined one sort of servitude, gender and class define others. This is a devastating look not only at the slave experience in the 17th century, but of various forms of bondage and of the place of women in that world. ![]()
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