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The Bondwoman's Narrative

By: Hannah Crafts, edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Narrated by: Anna Deavere Smith
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Publisher's Summary

An unprecedented historical and literary event, this tale written in the 1850s is the only known novel by a female African American slave, and quite possibly the first novel written by a black woman anywhere. A work recently uncovered by renowned scholar and professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., it is a stirring tale of "passing" and the adventures of a young slave as she makes her way to freedom.

The Bondwoman's Narrative tells of a self-educated young house slave who knows her life is limited by the brutalities of her society, but never suspects that the freedom of her plantation's beautiful new mistress is also at risk...or that a devastating secret will force them both to flee from slave hunters with another powerful, determined enemy at their heels.

This program includes an exclusive interview with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
©2002 Henry Louis Gates, Jr., All Rights Reserved (P)2002 Time Warner AudioBooks, a Division of the AOL Time Warner Book Group
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Critic Reviews

"Thanks to the unrelenting probe of a Harvard University historian, again, we get the story from the woman's mouth itself. We learn the day-to-day experiences of a bondwoman through her fiction. We see in the intimacy of Craft's novel the gross, ugly vulgarity of the 'peculiar institution'." (Maya Angelou)
"Let it be emphasized that this novel is not simply a historical document but also a vivid, compelling narrative." (Booklist)

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.