The Life and Times of Persimmon Wilson

The Life and Times of Persimmon Wilson by Nancy Peacock is an engrossing novel that follows the life of a former slave as he searches for the love of his life, Chloe. They have been cruelly separated by their former master and all Persey knows is that Mastah Wilson and Chloe are in Texas. The story is narrated by Persimmon from a jail cell where he awaits his hanging, charged with the murder of a white man and of raping and kidnapping his wife. But as his story unfolds we are shown that not everything is as it seems and our sympathy shifts entirely to Persimmon.

The story covers Persey’s slave years working on a sugar plantation in Louisiana, and being in love with Chloe, a light skinned fellow slave, who was taken to the big house and show more kept there as a plaything for the Master. They meet secretly and dream of the day that they will be free and able to be together. Meanwhile the Civil War rages on and the Yankees are getting closer. Before the Yankees arrive, the Master packs everything up and flees to Texas. He has suspicions about Persey and Chloe and so shoots Persey leaving him for dead. Persey spends years searching for Chloe, he spends time in the Union Army, works on a ranch, wanders Texas and is captured and becomes a Comanche and then, one day, he comes face to face with Mastah Wilson.

The Life and Times of Persimmon Wilson is first and foremost a tragic love story, but with both it’s timing and it’s setting it is also a remarkable novel of historical fiction. It is a story of hope, perseverance, violence and love. The author realistically portrays the brutality of slave life and the desperation of slave owners by the end of the Civil War. This gripping story of a black man’s bittersweet journey is beautifully written and I highly recommend it. show less

This was a powerful read – it’s my first 5 star read for the year. The book starts as Persimmon Wilson sits in jail awaiting his hanging. He sets about writing his story so that, as he notes, the truth will be told because as he notes the stories being told about him are not the whole truth. He did not kidnap and rape anyone. He wants the world to know his tale – not that he for one minute believes that his words will be read or taken for the truth.

Persimmon’s first master was a woman who treated her slaves more compassionately than most. She even went so far as to to teach them to read and write – which was very dangerous. Unfortunately things did not work out there and Persimmon and all of the slaves were sold. He ended up show more with a man who owns a sugarcane plantation in Louisiana along with some other men and a beautiful woman. This woman, Chloe and Persimmon find a spark between them but their new master has designs on Chloe. Persy goes to the fields and Chloe to the big house where she ostensibly cares for the master’s sick wife but she is there at his beck and call. Despite this Persy and Chloe manage to see each other despite the danger.

As the Civil War looms and emancipation is in the air the master hightails it to Texas. Persy has the opportunity to escape but he won’t leave Chloe. This leads to a confrontation with the master that leaves Chloe thinking he is dead. And he nearly is but he is saved and is determined to find her even though he knows nothing more than they are in Texas. The War might have freed the slaves but folks in Texas haven’t quite accepted the reality so Persy has to be careful – he fortunately hooks up with a man who doesn’t care about his color and they head out to work a ranch. They just have to beware the Cherokee who are raiding.

Just as Persy learns where Chloe is he gets captured. At this point he about doesn’t care whether he lives or dies. He ends up becoming part of the tribe and this leads to the next chapter of his life. The one where he is the most free.

This book was riveting. I had the world’s worst time putting it down and I’m keeping it to read again. As tough as that will be because Ms. Peacock does not spare her readers when dealing with the more difficult aspects of slavery, rape, war, injustice – anything. It’s very well written and not at all gratuitous but it can be difficult to read. To understand how humans can be towards one another. These characters stay with you – they are so well developed they become real. You feel a part of their world and feel their emotions. I will note that the ending is absolutely heartbreaking. It brought tears to my eyes and it took me a while for it to stop invading my thoughts.

The Life and Times of Persimmon Wilson is a book that will challenge and that will make you think. It’s well worth adding to a library. show less

This wonderful novel opens on April 1, 1875, in Drunken Bride, Texas. Persimmon Wilson is awaiting a hanging. Given the fact that Persy is black and the main means of execution was hanging back in that time period, he’s no stranger to these events. Fortunately for him, he’s never been the guest of honor. He writes this for Chloe, the only woman he ever loved. “I write this that she may be known for who she was, and not for who you think she was."

In November 1860, Percy was put on the auction block. There he saw Chloe for the first time and if one believed in love at first sight, Percy and Chloe were struck by Cupid’s arrow. Author Peacock does an excellent, cringe-worthy job of illustrating the degradation the men, women, and show more children who were slaves had to endure. Fortunately, the master of Louisiana’s Sweetmore Plantation bought both Chloe and Persy.

Life on the sugarcane plantation is brutal. Chloe is designated as a maid to the mistress while Persy is sent to the fields. Peacock did her research and describes their life in all its horrors. I admire her use of the language of the time. It lends authenticity, and before I knew it, I felt like I was living alongside Percy. In this overly political world we live in, it’s nice to see an author be true to the historical time period.

When the Civil War broke out, Sweetmore wasn’t immediately affected, but soon the Yankees came a callin’. Wilson fled to slaves, taking his slaves with him. As the steamer pulls out into the river, Persy and Chloe are separated. Persy spends five years searching for Chloe. During that time, Persy is captured by the Comanches and becomes a member of their tribe.

Persy and Chloe’s love story is one for the ages.

This half of the novel doesn’t feel quite as realistic as did the first half. Still, the research felt genuine and provided Persy with an amazingly interesting life. He learns the language and their ways. He becomes a Comanche and gains a reputation throughout Texas.

I wanted so badly to give The Life and Times of Persimmon Wilson 6 out of 5 stars, but the slightly-less-then-true feel of the second half force me to give Nancy Peacock’s novel 5 stars out of 5 in Julie’s world. show less

This novel gets off to a gripping start, with a black man in 1875 on the eve of his execution determined to write his story. Persimmon Wilson starts with his life in slavery, where he worked hard to make sugar crane on a brutal plantation in Louisiana and how he first encountered the love of his life, a fellow slave called Chloe. The Civil War disrupted this life and started a journey during which Persimmon became a Union soldier, a traveler desperately seeking Chloe, and eventually a Comanche raiding Texan towns. A fascinating tale and one well-told by the author.

Persey Wilson is a slave on a sugar plantation who escapes from his master during the Civil War and embarks on a journey across the Texas frontier, searching for the woman he loves and eventually joining the Comanche tribe.

Persey is writing down his story on the eve of his hanging (a fact revealed on the first page) in a tiny Texas town called Drunken Bride. As I read, I found myself slowly but surely getting caught up in his story, which begins on a Louisiana plantation and ends in an Indian village on the Texas plains. This novel has a terrific sense of time and place. The details of Persey's difficult life are compelling: the back-breaking labor of cutting sugar cane, enduring the terrible Texas winter storms, first being tortured by show more and then electing to join the Comanche. It's only then that he finds a sense of place and belonging. This is not a feel-good novel, by any means, but it is a good story, and I'm glad I read it. show less

there are parts of this story that i found quite interesting, and vividly written. however, the book did feel slightly repetitive and drawn out at moments, going on a little bit longer than needed. but, as has happened when i read other white writers sharing stories about slavery or indigenous culture (and using dialects) from black or first nations' perspectives, i feel uncomfortable, questioning whether the fictional presentations are culturally appropriate and sensitive? the author addresses these concerns, somewhat, in her afterword - noting the difficulties, and that she certainly intends no offense. yet i still feel unsettled as a reader. so i am sitting with these feelings for now, as i consider my review further.

We first meet Persimmon Wilson as he sits in jail in a small town in Texas waiting to be hanged. Before his death he wants his story known, for pope to know he is not just what he is charged with, to know his story and why he finds himself soon to be at the end of a hangman's noose.

I was quite taken with this story,, which is a heart a love story but the reader is also witness to some of America's most shameful incidents of its past. Slavery and the treatment of the American Indian. We watch as Percy, as he is called, meets Chloe when they are both sold to Master Wilson, a sugar cane plantation owner from Louisiana. He and Chloe form an instant connection, but this is complicated by Chloe's light skin and the fact that Wilson intends to show more make her his bed warmer.

Although we know Persy's fate from the beginning, I still wanted food things to happen for these two characters. When the Yankees capture Louisiana, though now supposedly free, their fate is still not in their own hands. We also hear about the Comanche, and a few other tribes because out West in Texas, the freedom of these tribes are coming to an end. Percy's story is a very interesting one and this book is a mix of genres, a slave narrative, a western, an adventure story and a love story. It is written in straightforward prose, just Persy telling his story, but while not dramatically told, the emotions are related in the details. The story is quick moving, as his time on this earth is limited, and mostly chronologically, a welcome form. His story is important, moving and important. He lived much in his short life.

ARC from publisher. show less