The Wedding Gift
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4.2 • 5 Ratings
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- £5.99
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
'Bodden's absorbing page-turner maintains its suspense right up to the final pages.' Sunday Express
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Sarah Campbell has always known she was different.
A slave at Allen Estates, Alabama, and the illegitimate daughter of the plantation owner Mr Allen, she's used to the other children's jibes, her mother's night-time trips to Mr Allen and, to her delight, her furtive literacy lessons with her white half-sister Clarissa.
Slowly, using her forbidden knowledge of reading and writing, Sarah plots an escape to the north and freedom. But Sarah's life is turned upside-down when she learns she will be given to Clarissa's cruel, soon-to-be-husband as a wedding gift, becoming his property.
Sarah knows this could be her last chance to escape for good. But will her secret skills and unrelenting willpower be enough to set her free?
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READERS LOVE THE WEDDING GIFT:
'Absolutely spellbinding'
'I couldn't put it down'
'Loved every page.'
'A great read, a wonderful story.'
'Genuinely could not stop reading this book.'
'This was the most enjoyable book I have read in a long time.'
'A very good read and would recommend.'
'A compelling read with a twist at the end.'
'I read this book in two days. You won't be disappointed.'
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this stunning debut, Marlen Suyapa Bodden effortlessly transports the reader to 1852 Alabama, where slavery and racism may rule the day, but everything isn't as black and white as it may seem. Sixteen-year-old Sarah Campbell is a housemaid to her half-sister Clarissa. Both daughters of plantation owner Mr. Allen, they secretly reject the roles they are expected to play. Sarah yearns for the day when she can escape slavery, while Clarissa is disinterested in her father's wishes for her to marry young and become mistress of her own plantation. But then Clarissa unexpectedly becomes pregnant before she's wed changing the trajectory of both girls' lives. Bodden weaves a page-turning tangled web of misogyny, greed, scandal and violence in this powerful story about races colliding against the backdrop of America's darkest era.
