Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada, January 12

Format: Paperback

Pages: 288

Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis (Goodreads):

In the tradition of Wench and Twelve Years a Slave, this harrowing story follows an enslaved woman forced to barter love and freedom while living in the most infamous slave jail in Virginia.

Born on a plantation in Charles City, Virginia, Pheby Brown was promised her freedom on her eighteenth birthday. But when her birthday finally comes around, instead of the idyllic life she was hoping for with her true love, she finds herself thrust into the bowels of slavery at the infamous Devil’s Half-Acre, a jail where slaves are broken, tortured, and sold every day. Forced to become the mistress of the brutal man who owns the jail, Pheby faces the ultimate sacrifice to protect her heart in this powerful, thrilling story of one slave’s fight for freedom. 

My Review:

Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for the copy of this book.
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The book revolves around Pheby, who is a young woman living and working on a slave planation in the southern United States. Through her trials and tribulations, we see Pheby fight for her survival when she is forced off the planation and is forced to live and work for a man who owns a jail that keeps slaves before the are sold at market.
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I really liked Pheby as a main character. She was strong and caring, and while she fought for her own survival, she also tried to protect those she loved. Her life was unimaginably difficult and she is forced to confront the realities of her situation.
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CW: violence, sexual assault, torture, slavery.