Books and banter by W.H.Manke

I recently purchase and read a book by Tara Conklin called, “The House Girl.”  The book doesn’t feature a lot of intense action and drama.  It tells of a young lawyer who is part of a team planning a class action suit to compensate people whose ancestors were slaves in the tobacco and corn fields of the southern states.  The action switches back and forth between the present and the days of slavery.  One chapter relates the professional and social issues facing the lawyer and another describes the life of a slave house girl.

For me the most interesting parts of the book dealt with the hardships and the dreams of the slave house girl and the other slaves on the farm with her. Like I said, if you’re looking for a lot of bang, bang action, this isn’t the book to read.  Its interest lies in the way the author relates the two time periods, and how she deals with the young lawyer and the house girl.  One might make the point that the young lawyer was as as much a slave as the house girl.  In the first case the law firm exercises control over her life, in the second case the owner of the farm owned the house girl.  One learns a good deal about the people of the southern states both slave and free.