The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk KiddMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Jo recommended this to me, and it sat on my bookshelf for a while, because I read A Respectable Trade and didn't want to read two slavery books back-to-back, worried i would conflate them.
When I finally go to this one, I enjoyed it. It was about a girl named Sarah growing up in Charleston, South Carolina, whose parents "gift" her a slave girl named Hattie when she turns 11. An uncomfortable friendship emerges between Sarah and Hattie, as Sarah believes that Hattie should be free, but can do very little to effect that change. As the girls grow older, the differences in their stations magnify, and Hattie's mother (also a slave) becomes increasingly daring in her efforts to escape the reality of her daily life.
The character development in this book was great - and the story heartbreaking. I learned too that Sarah is based on a historical figure. Sometimes I feel like I've read all the books on slavery that I "need" to, then I stumble on a book like that that reminds me that it's an era in slavery important to continue learning about always.
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