Yellow Wife: A Novel

I usually write my reviews right away, but this book was just too good to put into words. I’ve savored it. It took me longer to read because of the heartaching feelings while reading parts. I even looked up about it and saw it was based on a true story. Or the character was based on a real person. I’ve known all my life slavery was bad but some stuff I never knew. And for some idiotic reason, I thought women may have been spared some of the really bad stuff. But omgosh, I can’t even imagine what they went through. How could anyone treat another human like that? Sorry to rant. I’m so thankful for this book and author. And the way it was written is superb. Never have I had so much feeling in a read. And it’s not even the genre I usually read. I have a major book hangover now. It’s been weeks and I just can’t get into others as much. I want to read this one over, it’s so good and I pine over already finishing it. The characters are so amazing. I loved it so much, I bought the audiobook so I could listen while I worked. The narration was something not to be missed. Even if you don’t like audiobooks, try this one because the narration brings it alive even more. This should be required reading for all high schoolers!

Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson is a breathtaking, gut-wrenching, and deeply human story that has stayed with me long after I turned the final page. Born on a plantation, Pheby is the mixed-race daughter of the plantation’s medicine woman and its master. Her early years are sheltered compared to others around her—she’s educated, admired, and shown a glimpse of a life that feels almost free. But that illusion shatters, and what follows is a journey of unimaginable pain, sacrifice, and survival. This story doesn’t shy away from the brutality of slavery. The depictions of the torture, cruelty, and inhumanity of the slave trade are both harrowing and necessary. What carries the reader through is Pheby’s strength—her fierce love for her children, her devotion to Essex, and her sheer will to endure. The Jailer, with his unpredictable shifts from charm to cruelty, kept me on edge the entire time. I found myself holding my breath through entire chapters. What makes this story even more powerful is knowing it’s inspired by the real-life Mary Lumpkin, an enslaved woman who lived at Devil’s Half Acre as the mistress of a slave trader. Through Pheby’s character, Johnson pays tribute to women whose courage and survival have been erased or forgotten.

This was a good book to help me hop back into reading. It was really easy to read. The author was able to capture my attention and I was able to image the people and places she was describing. I got frustrated with Pheby towards the end once Essex arrived at the jail because she was making decisions that put her own life and her children in danger.

Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson is a powerfully written story that draws you deep into the life of Pheby Delores Brown and the shackles that bind in the South during slavery. Born on a plantation, the mixed daughter of the plantation's medicine woman and it's master, the beginning of Pheby's life seems rather blessed for a slave. She is held high regard in the master's sister's eyes, and raised almost as if she were a free young woman. She has found sweet, young love in the arms of another slave, Essex Henry. She is learned, accomplished, and beautiful, but ultimately, still a slave. Fate, jealousy, and hatred soon take hold of Pheby's young life, thrusting her into the dark, dismal underbelly of the slave trade at just 17, after the deaths of her father, her mother, and her future as a free woman at a school in Massachusetts. She arrives, battered and bruised, at the Devil's Half Acre, a horrible place where Black men, women, and children are broken and sold or beaten and killed. Because those are the only way slaves will be leaving this hell hole. The 'Marse' takes an instant liking to Pheby, setting her up to be his 'yellow wife', a title that grants her an easier life than her fellow slaves in the jail, but keeps her shackled to a sadistic, abusive, controlling tyrant. Pheby lives her life there in a sort of hibernation, helping to ready the fancy girls for sale, and providing what little help to the slaves that she can, while giving Marse children in exchange for the tentative safety of her position... Until the love of her life and father of her first-born son is captured, brought to the Devil's Half Acre, and beaten to within an inch of his life. This is the catalyst that awakens Pheby from her stupor and begins a long journey to freedom for some and a new form of slavery, even after emancipation, for others. This book is incredible in so many ways. It is so well-written and so detailed; you can practically see, hear, feel, and smell everything Ms. Johnson describes. But it is also incredibly hard to read, emotionally, for those very same reasons. And even though it is historical fiction based in part on reality, it is still a story that needs to be told, as do the true stories of the many people who have been subjugated in the USA's often dark history. And I, for one, thank Ms. Johnson for bringing this particular story to life in such stunning clarity.

I read this book in ONe day. A major page turner. Must Read! The characters came to life and made you connect with ancestors. All though a fiction. The story was based on true events and what now is a historical college.

This was such a heart tugging and AMAZING READ. 10/10 recommend, I personally loved it being a mulatto woman myself. Learning how the mixed women were prizes in the worst ways… So much love for all of the characters. I will miss this book. Read read read!!!💛💛💛

Yellow wife is a well written, enticing and emotionally disturbing reminder of life for so many Americans. I was struck by the heart of a real mother in Pheby. No matter the lineage of her children, whether from her one and only true love or from one who used her like property, she loved each one deeply and did what she believed was best for each one regardless of the cost to herself. The strength, wisdom and stamina of the main character was phenomenal. A great read.

This book evoked so many emotions, and the ending left my heart full yet heavy. There’s nothing like a mother’s love.