Wench

This taut and engaging account of 4 women slaves taken by their masters from a slave south to a resort in the "free" north is an often chilling portrayal of everyday brutality. Set just before the Civil War, the women’s purpose at the resort, besides almost endless labor at laundry, cooking and housekeeping, is to provide sex to their masters whenever it's required. Yet despite the rough treatment they receive from their masters and the disdain of the free blacks (and whites) who run the resort, the four women create a society of sorts, a friendship always threatened by violence.
It's difficult to imagine, but at least one of the women openly identifies with her master, and believes that she loves him and vice versa. Her eyes opened show more by his refusal to free his children, she eventually takes that step that has tempted each of the four women throughout the narrative – a try for freedom. show less

First novels, even if they do not entirely succeed, should be ambitious. They should (perhaps) tackle huge themes, involve great moral struggles, create intimate character portraits, and they should have heart. Dolen Perkins-Valdez’ first novel certainly takes on a huge theme in slavery. She focuses on the tangled web of allegiances and betrayals that arise when master-slave relations are sexualized and, more especially, when then they bear fruit in the form of children. She introduces us to four black slave women brought together over a number of summers at the Tawawa resort in “free” Ohio, where their masters have gone to “take the waters”. Mawu, Sweet, Reenie, and Lizzie have varied histories and divergent futures. The tale show more of any one of them would be enough to melt the coldest heart. So, if the novel does not entirely succeed, it can at least be seen to be headed in the right direction.

Told from the perspective of Lizzie, whose situation is complicated by her “love” for her master and the father of the her two children, the few succeeding summers at the resort lead to tragedy and, at least for some, new beginnings. The Tawara resort (which did in fact exist) thrusts these slave mistresses into close proximity with freed and freeborn blacks. Is it any wonder they feel both the pull toward freedom and the future, as well as the call of kith and kin further south?

Lizzie can read and write, modestly. But her curious state, as both a willing and unwilling participant in her own subjugation, makes her a not entirely trustworthy perceiver of events. Her vision, both moral and emotional, is clouded. Enough so that she willingly reports on Mawu’s plans to escape, all the while believing that she does so for Mawu’s own good despite knowing the severe beating Mawu will suffer at the hands of her master as a result. Is she any better judge of her own situation? It makes it difficult to fully sympathize with Lizzie’s own plight. And it also tempers our enthusiasm for her later re-visioning because it too may not have a solid base.

The writing here is at times uneven. It is almost as though, with such richness before her, Perkins-Valdez sometimes cannot decide what to focus on. That is not such a bad problem for a first novel. If her reach has exceeded her grasp, well…that’s why they invented second novels. show less

This well-written historical novel looks at the lives of four slave women accompanying their masters on a summer holiday to free Ohio. The novel focuses on the women, the relationships they form, and the way they deal with the possibility of escaping to freedom. I was drawn into the stories of the women, though would have liked more attention paid to the backstories of characters other than Lizzie. I do believe the author did an excellent job getting into the mindset of these characters, trying to show the conflicts between love, loyalty, and true freedom.

Wench gives an excellent portrayal of the lives of slaves overall, but in particular the slave women who became their enslaved mistresses. Set in the early 1850’s in the free northern state of Ohio the drama takes place on the vacation estate of Tawawa. Here the Southern plantation owners would bring their slave mistresses, rarely their wives, to enjoy a the relationship unencumbered by the difficulties of such a relationship on the plantation. Perkins-Valdez does a remarkable job of getting inside the heads of these women. The story centers on four slave women who only see one another once a year on this “vacation”. It explores the relationship with their masters, as well has the interactions with the free black men and women of show more the north. Though these men and women were destroyed physically and psychologically they were forever hopeful, and that is what keeps you reading. It is a riveting but painful read, and a testament to the human spirit. For me, the most fascinating aspect of the whole story is that the author started out researching, as an historian, this actual place, the Tawawa Resort. It only operated from 1852 until 1855 and is located in Xenia Ohio. After a few incarnations it is now Wilberforce University and is considered “the nation’s oldest, private, predominantly African American university”. One can only imagine what spirits now roam those grounds, and Perkins-Valdez has the imagination to bring it all to life. MAT show less

Lizzie, Reenie, Mawu and Sweet are female slaves who have been brought to the Tawawa House resort with their masters for the summer. Leaving their wives behind, these men journey to the resort with their slaves, hoping to create for themselves a world in which each of them can be free to mix with the slave women, who are also their mistresses, in polite society. Each slave woman has a different relationship with her owner, from Lizzie who believes that her master Drayle loves her, to Mawu whose master Tip thinks nothing of publicly abusing and threatening her. As three summers pass, the women weave their way into each other's lives, becoming more than just friends. As the story winds its way through the three summers the women spend show more with each other, Perkins-Valdez shows her readers the pain, misdirection, and brutality visited upon a group of women who long for freedom and happiness with a power that is so tangible and fierce that it screams from the page.

About a year ago, I reviewed a book called The Kitchen House which dealt with evils and horrors of slavery on a small plantation in the South. When I reviewed that book, I also posted a bit explaining that I felt uncomfortable reading these types of stories. What I realized while reading this book is that my feelings have slightly morphed, and now, instead of being discomfited by reading literature about slavery, I realize that I'm shamed and angered by it. I have a hard time believing there was ever a time when people were considered chattel. I mean, these were human beings, men, women and children, whose freedom was ripped away by another group of people who felt that they had more right to run their lives than they did. All of this was perpetrated based on the color of a person's skin, the random dressing of their heart and soul. I realize now that despite my initial reaction to want to steer clear of these books, I need to educate myself about this situation. It's a part of history that's hurtful and despicable, but by hiding my head in the sand, I not only avoid dealing with it, in some ways I deny to myself that these things happened at all. I credit a lot of this change of heart from reading Dolen Perkins-Valdez's book Wench.

From the opening pages, I felt there was a lot of restrained emotion and sadness seeping from this tale, and though Perkins-Valdez goes to amazing lengths not to include histrionics and melodrama, the pain and cataclysm of the lives of these women is on full display. It's interesting that she gives us the perspectives of four different women. Women who are ostensibly in the same situation but all have very different beliefs about it and reactions to it. Lizze, who is the main focus of the book, feels that she's different from the others because she's certian that her master Drayle loves her like an equal. Lizzie loves Drayle and and she deludes herself into believing that he cares for her and her feelings, when in fact the only difference between her and the others is that she has garnered a bit more freedom. It was clear to me that Drayle was no different than the other slave owners, and in some ways he was more selfish and cruel, because his decision-making processes and behavior mislead Lizzie into believing that she was the woman he loved and preferred This set her up for some devastating falls when he repeatedly refused to free their children.

Reenie, the oldest of the bunch, is a living life with a deadened soul. Her master Sir, who is also her half-brother, takes extreme liberties with her body both sexually and otherwise, even offering her over to the manager of the hotel, and Reenie is unable to contain her grief at the life she's forced to live. For most of the book Reenie is on the edge of the living and the dead, both fearful and resigned to what is happening to her. While Reenie is compliant only because she's broken, Sweet is another who tends to believe good things about her master. It's clear to everyone else when the pregnant Sweet is held as ransom while the other slaves take a sightseeing trip that Sweet is not so different than the others. Made to stand as the other women's surety, Sweet can only abide by the rules that are set for her, and taking this role even further, Sweet lives a life of relative concord with her master. Confusing the matter, it was clear to me that Sweet's master had relativley strong feelings for her, and while reading, I questioned the similarities between the hearts of Lizzie and Sweet. The difference between them, I think, was the fact that Sweet was a champion in compliance, whereas Lizzie questioned and bargained her way through all her misfortunes.

The last woman, Mawu, was very different from the rest. There was a certian amount of pride in her that she would not relinquish, no matter what the brutal Tip did to her. Her physical attributes were different as well, as she was described as having a fiery halo of red hair and freckles. Mawu is the only one of the four who ascribes to a mystical belief system rather than belief in the traditional Christian mindset, and she was the only one who worked diligently to give herself a different future than the one fate had in mind for her. Though she could be aggressive with the other women, it was her efforts to make the others take stock of their situations and her resolve to change her own that was the impetus for change within the group. It's arguable which of the slaves had suffered and endured the most, and where some would agree that it was Mawu, I would say her fate and Lizzie's were equally troubling to me. It's a sad fact of the time that there were no definite answers or solutions for the women and men in these situations, and though they all yearn for the freedom that will never be granted to them willingly, only a few would ever receive it.

I asked myself a lot of questions while reading this book, and quite a few of them made me uncomfortable. As Lizzie and the others begin to gain new awareness of themselves and the lives they lead, they also come into contact with free black men and women, abolitionist literature, and people hailing from the north, where slavery doesn't exist. They begin to wonder when they can expect to have these changes come into their lives, and at least one comes to the conclusion that it's better to physically give into her fate while mentally fighting against it. The book made me incredibly sad, and the very realistic character portrayals and situations within it opened up a world of debate inside my heart for these women and their real life counterparts, both male and female. A very sobering and intense read. Recommended. show less

The Short of It:

With sharp, clean prose, Perkins-Valdez delivers a story that’s sometimes tragic, at times hopeful and thoroughly compelling.

The Rest of It:

wench ’wench n. from Middle English “wenchel,” 1 a: a girl, maid, young woman; a female child.

It’s a little known fact, but back in the mid-1800′s, there was a resort in Ohio called Tawawa House. It was a summer resort, frequented by slave owners and their slave mistresses. When Perkins-Valdez learned of this, she was amazed that such a place existed. Intrigued by the idea, she crafted a tale about four women, all friends, and how their roles as mistresses were not always clear-cut.

This is Lizzie’s story. Drayle purchased her as a young girl. Gave her books, treated her show more as if she mattered and as she grew into a young woman, her love of Drayle grew as well. It doesn’t matter that he is married to Fran. Lizzie knows that he holds a special place in his heart for her and when she gives him the children that Fran can’t, she feels that her position in the house is secure.

To confirm this, Drayle takes her to Tawana House each summer. There, they sleep in the same room. She cooks for him, cleans for him, yet in her head, she is the one he loves. At first, she is happy playing this role, but as she becomes close friends with the other women, Reenie, Sweet and Mawu, she begins to question her importance and as her own children get older, she is often reminded that they are in fact, slaves.

This is a wonderful, complex story about a slave and her white master but it’s also a story about friendship. It’s difficult to understand how a slave could ever love her master, but to Lizzie, Drayle is everything to her. And although she knows she is tied to him because of the children, she really can’t imagine life any other way.

Lizzie’s story is tragic, because as a reader you can clearly see the master/slave lines but Lizzie can’t. Not at first. But somehow, I wasn’t frustrated with Lizzie. I wanted her to make different choices, sure, but I didn’t fault her for the ones she made. What’s strange is that I felt sorry for Fran as well. She knows full well what is going on in her house, but she doesn’t have the power to do much about it. Oh yes, she tries, but she too, learns a thing or two in the end.

I’ve read a few books dealing with slave/master relations, but none of them were quite like this one. This story was unique and it left me thinking about things long after I finished it. I highly recommend it.

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How can I actually write that this novel was beautifully written....but it was. Truly horrific is the fact that this novel is part of the past of this country but keeps coming back in different forms---as terrible treatment of human beings who do not think the way you want them to. Frightening, to say the least.