Najwa Binshatwan

This is the story of Atiqa, a happily married Libyan woman with two children and a good job as a nurse. One day, a man arrives telling her he is her cousin and giving her her birth certificate. He offers to share what he knows of her parents' relationship. Both long dead, Atiqu's mother, Tawida was a black slave and her father, Muhammed, was Tawida's white owner.

Through Ali's recounting of events, we learn that Muhammed was obsessed with Tawida....maybe even in love with her. And Tawida show more pays a heavy price for Muhammed's feelings. This story examines slavery. It is about the abuse of black bodies and black lives in a precarious domestic realm of multiple wives, concubines, slaves and patriarchy. It made me think about the concepts of freedom and agency from the perspectives of slaves and their owners.

I liked the book. The characters were well developed and compelling. One off note, though, was the final chapter where both Atiqa and Ali make long speeches about life...that was not a realistic conversation for them to have. If an author wants to tell the reader something, I would rather she do so than create off-note conversations between characters. show less