The House Girl

I loved this book and it surprises me that this book is not more popular than it is.  Maybe it is because of the topic. I don't know, but I really liked it.  It is one of those books that follow the story of two totally unrelated women in two different time periods and in the beginning you really wonder what will bring these stories together. It just doesn't seem like the two share any familial background or anything else for that matter. 

Josephine is a slave that lives on a plantation in Virginia.  The "master" of the plantation is not the kindest of human beings and the slaves that live on it are not treated well at all. Josephine has a burning desire to gain her freedom and it is through her that the author depicts the plight of the African American trying to gain freedom in the years leading up to the Civil War. There is so much brutality and inhumane treatment. One thing to note here is that Josephine is an extremely talented artist.  Her Mistress is also an artist but not of the same caliber. 

Carolina known as "Lina" is a lawyer working in a fast paced, stressful big law firm in New York.  She is a daughter of an artist who had struggled but was now famous enough to have his own show. So she is very familiar with the art world. Lina is asked to take on a case for a client who brings a lot of business to the firm but the case is a rather difficult case to take on.  It is brought about by an African American man who as I said before is a BIG client of the law firm.  He wants to the government and corporations to pay for the treatment of all the slaves.   

From the outset Lina feels that this case is not exactly winnable since the scope is so broad but she is assigned with the task of finding a plaintiff and she finds Josephine. She finds Josephine through her art.  There is a controversy playing out as to whether Lu Anne Bell credited with painting highly collectible and valuable pieces of art is actually the artist who has painted them or was it Josephine her slave girl that was the actual artist.  

Again, I really enjoyed the book and recommend it.