A Respectable Trade Book

Spoilers (some pretty serious ones):


So maybe you're an entitled, upper class lady living in the 1780s. You have an inkling that slavery isn't as morally sound as your church suggests. But what if the slave trade is keeping you in fancy hats? Can you overlook the severe, continuous, dehumanizing oppression? Even when you meet a slave who becomes an odd combination of servant, friend, and lover? Does the cognitive dissonance start tearing you apart?

Here's what you do: you die. You die on the last page of the book, while having the baby born of the passionate tryst with the household slave, so you never have to come to terms with any of these problems. You don't even worry about what people will say when you give birth to a mixed race child! You just die!

I think Philippa Gregory does a better job than most historical fiction writers of creating characters that seem appropriate for their time. (Ken Follet, for example, is about the worst at dropping people with 21st century worldviews into the 1100s.) At least Frances' inner conflict seemed genuine. Throughout the course of the novel, we see her grow and re-evaluate her way of thinking. But she never has to make the hard choice. She relies on social tricks and subtle manipulation to preserve the increasingly inappropriate relationship she has with Mehuru, but up and dies before she has to either set him free (and acknowledge him as human) or sell him (and acknowledge him as property).

Still, a worthwhile read.