Send Judah First

Captured and sold into slavery, a young African girl faces a harrowing new life in 19th-century America… Meet Judah in a powerful historical novel that reveals the life of one of the many enslaved people at Virginia’s Belle Grove Plantation.

The slave ledger at Virginia’s Belle Grove Plantation only reveals that Judah was purchased to be the cook, gave birth to 12 children, and died in April 1836. But, like the other 276 faceless names entered in that ledger, Judah lived. Brian C. Johnson’s important work of historical fiction goes beyond what is recorded to portray the depth, humanity, and vulnerability of a beautiful soul all but erased by history.

Cover Art: Megan Whitfield, Graphic Design: Kristen Carrico

ASIN: B08XVTBZ6Q

9781733819329 (hardback)

9780463472927 (ebook)

"Compelling, haunting, horrific, and beautiful. In Send Judah First, Brian C. Johnson has crafted a novel that brings vividly to life enslaved people - Judah, Aunt Sally, Truelove, Anthony... - that so many have tried to erase from American history. A heart-wrenching and essential story."
-Thomas Norman DeWolf, author of Inheriting the Trade, and co-author of Gather at the Table and The Little Book of Racial Healing