I have been wanting to read Sadeqa Johnson's Yellow Wife for awhile now and was happy to finally have the chance to read. It was a great read and enjoyed it. Five stars.

This is a Historical Fiction book. This book takes place in the South (Virginia, but some of the places talked about in the book is in North Carolina) during the time people had slaves. We follow young female slave called Pheby Delores Brown. I have to say this book was hard to read at times, but I really think everyone should read this book. It is a part of the Sothern past, and we cannot forget it. I feel the characters came to live in this book. I think this is the first book that was told in the point of view of a slave that I have read. This book was so beautifully written, and Miss Pheby touched my heart so many ways. I did not want to put this book down. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (Simon & Schuster) or author (Sadeqa Johnson) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review about how I feel about this book, and I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

"Yellow Wife" by Sadeqa Johnson is wonderfully written historical fiction.
Pheby Delores Brown is born a slave on a southern plantatio. Her mother is the plantation seamstress and medicine woman, her father the plantation owner. Mr. Jacob the plantation owner allows his sister Sally to educate Pheby and teach her to play the piano. Mr. Jacob promises Pheby her freedom at 18 years old.

Delphina, Jacob's jealous and extremely cruel wife sells Pheby to slave traders. Pheby is light skinned and beautiful, a lethal combination for a slave trader. She ends up at a filthy jail where slaves are imprisoned under horrific conditions.
Pheby’s story is often difficult to read, a story so horrible I had to close the book a few times and wait til I felt able to continue, a sign of a well written novel.

This book resonated deeply with me. Well drawn characters, brave women fighting for the people they love under deplorable conditions. Read this book, you will not be sorry.

This book takes place during a very tough time in history, when we had slaves.
It was hard to read about the brutality of the slaves treatment and them getting their children sold away from them as if they meant nothing.
Women should never have to stoop to being thought of as a nothing and forced into servitude just for survival.
Tears run red with blood.
Fascinating read that was hard to put down . The book ended rather abruptly and I would like to see a continuation of this book.

Pub Date 12 Jan 2021
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. Thank you.
All opinions expressed are my own.

What a strong story about the life, struggles and choices of Pheby, a biracial woman in 1850s in Virginia and even north of Virginia. Daughter of the plantation master, she lives somewhat protected as long as her mother and father are around. Left alone with the plantation mistress, though, is a different story.
And, the setting of the Lapier Jail in Richmond, VA (fictional), but based on Lumpkin's Jail (real), was inhuman. Such evil and so many games played with the lives of the enslaved men, women and children.
Thankfully Pheby can draw on the wise teachings from her mom, including a faith walk. I felt I understood Pheby's choices to protect her family to her best ability.

NOTE: Here's a link to the jail site: https://www.lumpkinsjail.org/

My thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advanced copy of this novel.

Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson is a rough and brutal tale of Pheby Brown a young mulatto who is raised in slavery, but is given the hope that at the age of eighteen she will be given her freedom. As with so much in this very detailed and well researched novel, it is a false hope, and she finds herself in the Devil's Half-Acre a trading site for slaves, and a punishment place for the more recalcitrant of the oppressed. Pheby is a fascinating and interesting character, faced with hard choices on almost every page. The book is unrelenting on this "peculiar institution" as well it should be. This is not the book for a person who thinks a plantation wedding is a good idea, or Antebellum is a great idea for anything. The book is very well written about a subject that still reverberates today.

I'll be honest, I usually shy away from books about slavery but I could not ignore how intriguing this storyline was.

It took me a while to read it but I'm glad I did because it truly did not disappoint. I thought it was and easy, well written book that held my attention from the start, to the last page.

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. This novel was about an enslaved girl and her struggle for freedom. Very well researched but tough emotionally.

This book was devastating, in a way that made me want to delve deeper into the history throughout. It's a grim but realistic portrayal of slavery, following an enslaved woman in the 1850s throughout the rest of her life. This book could definitely be triggering so I'd recommend for everyone to watch out for that, but it was a very valuable book.

During the whole time I was reading this book, my heart was pounding wildly. The truthful subject matter is intense and the book is well written. As I got to about 90% of the book completed, I questioned if I could handle finishing the book (as my mind went through so many possible endings) or if I should just put it down and give up on it. In the end, I am so glad that I did finish the book, although it did not end the way I thought it would.

The Yellow Wife was such a hauntingly powerful historical fiction novel. The novel follows the life of Pheby Brown as she grows up in a life of slavery. She was promised her freedom at the age of eighteen, but after a series of events she winds up being sold at the Devil’s Half-Acre, a jail where slaves are sold and tortured daily. The writing was so wonderfully descriptive that you felt the character emotions and desires. This is a novel of survival during a horrible period in history. I highly recommend everyone read this novel!.

I requested and read Yellow Wife. The book is about a mulatto female slave and her many trials as a slave. It is historical fiction and based on real events. I think the author did a great job on her research and wrote a very interesting book.. I had a hard time reading the parts that are so torturous.
Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

Wow this book was so hard to read but also so very good. Based on true events, it’s the story of Pheby, a mulatto slave who was the daughter of the master and a slave who actually got educated and taught piano, who expected to be freed in her 18th birthday but instead was sold away and taken to a horrible slave trading jail but luckily taken in by the jailer as a pseudo-wife..... This book has a lot of horrible graphic heart wrenching scenes, but the story made me keep reading, unable to put it down. One of the best books I’ve read this year - I highly recommend it if you can handle the harder parts to read. I found I couldn’t put it down.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy of this book; this review is completely my own opinion.

This was a very hard book to read due to subject matter, but it was excellent! The author’s portrayal of the life of a slave is heart wrenching and brutal. I highly recommend this story which is based on the true story of Mary Lumpkin. I will definitely be reading more by Sadeqa Johnson!

The premise of this book was more compelling to me than the execution of the story. I appreciate the opportunity to learn about a place, time, and person in history I didn't know about, and Johnson's excavation of a lost historical voice. The writing style was just mediocre for me, unfortunately.

This book was absolutely outstanding. It told a story of a side of enslavement that is not often told - that of lighter-skinned Black women who were shown favor by enslavers, who found themselves caught between different lives, different identities, faced with difficult choices to ensure survival. It is deeply upsetting to read and I find it important to sit in that discomfort and learn from it. With stories like these that explicitly outline the horrific conditions that Black individuals faced during slavery I think it is too easy to feel that shock and then just say '"Wow that was fucked up! I can't believe that happened!" and move on but we know that this racism and brutality is deeply rooted and lives on in so many ways. This book is based on a true story, that of Mary Lumpkin, and I thank Sadeqa Johnson for bringing this story to light in such an impactful way. I will never forget it.

The Yellow Wife is a story that is raw, captivating, and inspiring. The book is inspired by the story of the “yellow” slave, Mary Lumpkin, the wife of a white jailer who pretty much tortured slaves before their sale on his “Devil’s Half Acre”. Historical Fiction at its best, not only does The Yellow Wife takes you back into time with its well written visuals, you literally felt the emotions of Pheby and what she had to go through to set her children free. Pheby’s story really resonates with me because of my past and it took me a while to learn that even though your body is imprisoned or enslaved, that doesn’t mean you mind have to be. Your mind is free and that’s what got me through the toughest situation. That’s what got Pheby through.

Listen I tried to put this book some many times to get my everyday life task done but somehow Pheby’s story kept drawing me back I had to know what happened next. Sadeqa Johnson did exactly what an author suppose to do kept me engaged, wanting more and she did it effortlessly.

I do recommend this read to any and every one who enjoys historical fiction.

Thank you Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the advance copy in exchange for my HONEST review.

First of all what a stunning cover, I wanted to read this book so bad when I saw the cover and I want to thank #Netgalley and the publisher Simon and Schuster for providing me with an ARC of #TheYellowWife.

It is hard to say that that you have enjoyed the book just because of the story and the history and the cruelty and the rawness of slavery, but I am happy that I have read this amazing book that transport us back to those hard and difficult and cruel time in human history.

However, the storyboard so well told and while we read about the cruelty, the so called “love” which really is not love but somehow protected Pheby and her family. The storyline carries hope and heroines and courage and that is what kept me reading this book. Hard to put down as you keep rooting for Pheby and her family.

I highly recommend this book as the storyline and writing is exquisite. I am looking forward to reading more books by this author, Sadiqa Johnson🌹

So hard to read this raw, transporting novel. My emotions were all over the place and I fell in love with Pheby for her mind and strength.

" I feared for her, and tucked her away with the children as much as possible. Beauty was a curse for a slave girl.”

First of all: STUNNING cover.
Second: while this is historical fiction it is inspired by a real woman - Mary Lumpkin and Lumpkin’s jail in Virginia.

This was such a stunning and captivating story. It's always hard to read about the terrors of slavery and this certainly brought it to the forefront. "The Yellow Wife" it a tale of identity, family, friends, love, culture, hatred, humanity and so much more.

This story has been compared to "Wench" which I read a few years back and it definitely follows that same path at the beginning (I was having flashbacks) but I would say the second half is very different.

One think I loved about this story is that it explores all the grey areas: her being (half white, half black, passing etc.), and also so many of her thoughts and choices i.e. this will help my family but may harm my identity, friends, future etc. Pheby has to make sacrifices, choices and teeter on the edge of being true to herself, doing whats "right" and being who everyone wants/needs her to be.

It's also very female focused and the female characters are sooo multi-dimensional (love that!).

All around fabulous book, would recommend to all.

*I received an arc in exchange for an honest review*.