The Resurrection of Nat Turner, Part 2: The Testimony
A Novel
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
The sequel to The Resurrection of Nat Turner, Part I: The Witnesses shows the story of Nat Turner through his own eyes, from growing up a slave through his violent uprising and death.
In the predawn hours of August 22, 1831, slave Nat Turner stormed into history with a Bible in one hand and a sword in the other. Leading a small army of fellow slaves in an uprising that left more than fifty whites dead, Turner became a tragic hero and a lightning rod for abolitionists. His rebellion put Virginia in the national spotlight and tore a nation’s trust.
In Part I: The Witnesses, Harriet Beecher Stowe encounters a mysterious runaway slave who recounts stories of people who knew Nat Turner, both friends and enemies. In their words are the truth of the mystery and conspiracy of Turner’s life, death, and confession. Part 2: The Testimony, relates the whole story—from Turner’s early slave years with his Ethiopian-born mother through the uprising, his trial, and hanging—from Nat’s perspective. It’s a story full of greed and betrayal, faith and courage, villains and heroes.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Foster (Passing by Samaria), acclaimed author of several books she calls "gospel novels," writes vividly about faith and slavery in this fast-paced narrative. Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, aims to clarify the accepted history of Nat Turner's prosecution. Turner, the Ethiopian turned American slave, is a well-read patriot in slaves' eyes, but an ornery slave who needs to be put in his place in his mistress's eyes. Foster describes the Southern hierarchy of women and slave owners and rebellious and submissive slaves with equally deft passages. On August 22, 1831, when dozens of white people are killed in an insurrection, Turner is the assumed culprit. Hundreds of slaves are killed for participating in the uprising. The details and plot are nearly flawless, except in some of the courtroom scenes, where the story sags and there's too much repetition. Despite a few dull pages and some confusing transition between plantation life and the life of Turner's mother, Nancie, in Africa, the story is riveting and expertly told by an inspired, practiced storyteller.
