The House Girl is a novel by Tara Conklin that covers the stories of two women, Josephine Bell, a nurse slave and artist and Lina Sparrow, a modern attorney assigned to find direct slave descendants for a suit that could make her career.
I very much enjoyed this novel. However, I do have to say that I had far more preference to the chapters about Josephine. It was in the telling of Josephine’s story that I feel Tara really found her voice as a writer. The passages were lyrical, beautifully descriptive and drew you deeply into the lives and atmosphere of the slave owning deep South. There are few writers who can immerse you so deeply into an alien landscape and show you the world through the lens of the characters. Through Josephine’s story, she does just that. The inner struggles with her owner, who taught her to read and draw, creating an almost daughterly loyalty with her desire for freedom and knowledge that the loyalty is but an illusion.
This did not, in my opinion, carry over so much in Lina’s portion of the story. This may be due to the Tara allowing too much of the attorney to infuse into it. But, she seemed to struggle more in the writing of these sections. The characters didn’t seem to have near the depth and complexity of those of Josephine’s world. Even so, it was still a well told story and for the most part beautifully crafted. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a truly immersing read.
I think you nailed this one on the head.
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