Burn Down Master's House
A Novel
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4.4 • 5 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Inspired by true, long-buried stories of enslaved people who dared to fight back, a searing portrayal of resistance for readers of Colson Whitehead, Jesmyn Ward, and Percival Everett, from Clay Cane, award-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author of The Grift.
As turmoil simmers within a divided nation, smoke from another blaze begins to rise. Sparked by individual acts of resistance among those enslaved across the American South, their seemingly disparate rebellions fuel a singular inferno of justice, connecting them in ways quiet at times, explosive at others. As these flames rise, so will they.
Luke, quick-witted and literate, and Henri, a man with a strong and defiant spirit, forge an unbreakable bond at a Virginia plantation called Magnolia Row. Both seek escape from unimaginable cruelty. And sure as the fires of hell, Luke and Henri will leave their mark, sparking resistance among the lives they touch…
One is Josephine, a young, sharp, and observant girl who wields silence as her greatest weapon. A witness to Luke and Henri’s resilience, she listens, watches, waits for the moment to make her move.
Then there is Charity Butler, her husband a formerly enslaved man who proved his ferocity as a young boy standing alongside Josephine. At his encouragement, Charity fights for her freedom in court and wins – only to battle a deeply unjust system designed to destroy the life they’ve built.
And finally, there is Nathaniel, who ruthlessly exploits other Black people and mirrors the cruelty of the white men who, like him, are enslavers. A perversion of the system of slavery, his fragile and contradictory rule will become a catalyst of its own.
Inspired by the true stories of the profoundly courageous men and women who dared to fight back, Burn Down Master’s House is a singular tour de force of a novel—breathtaking in scope, compassion, and a timeliness that speaks powerfully to our present era.
Customer Reviews
Harrowing and devastating
A profound and factually based novel of enslaved people who’s experiences and unbelievably abusive in every respect as well as the oppression and violence they endured for decades facing such brutality and soul crushing existences and enforced cruelty and depravation that the reader who’s merely reading about these atrocities will feel the debasement and relentless terror deep in the marrow of their bones.
This is such a heavy and heart wrenching disturbing story yet the author was mindful to rewrite the real life story of the enslaved to give them a different version of their own story and he’s gifted them with the unthinkable and unimaginable dream most didn’t dare to entertain, life as a free person. A human who has the luxury of knowing peace of mind and living a life filled with love and joy and happiness not one that has been full of violence abuse and death regularly since they’ve taken their very first breath and ended with their last enslaved in an inescapable living hell. By including these empowering next chapters for those who deserved so much more from life than they’d been forced to endure, he also includes the overflowing emotions of that of a freed man or woman after virtually being enslaved and bound to a master their whole lives. The pure joy and gratitude they express and put into practice while they fill their freedom with such goodness and unforgettable impressions they will go on to make in all that will come into contact with them. This was true of one in particular who was freed and would go on to become married and have children with his wife who was later found to be illegally granted her freedom and nearly a decade of freedom is forced back to the plantation with her master and her 2 daughters who were born in the free state of Pennsylvania who would later legally demand she be returned to her owner as she hadn’t received 6 months of consecutive time in the state as the new law required and through legal loopholes her sociopath of a master will file via the court to get her back to the south. It was one of the more difficult stories to digest as I was crying as I read what happens to her as she is shacked again.
As I said, this book is no easy feat, the material and facts are daunting and haunting but TRUE. These are a mere fraction of the horrors and inhumane terrifying every day existence was for the enslaved under the captors rule and immoral abuse and gross negligence and violent crimes committed against them on repeat- over and again they endured, those who made it, others weren’t fortunate to see double digits of their lives and one may ask was perhaps that a blessing for those poor innocent children and their poor parents being forced to watch and submit as their babies are neglected sold and abused so much they fail to thrive and aren’t even given a proper burial to lay their souls to rest. The horrors that were inflicted are sickening and gross imbalance of the power and privilege in this country from its v relentlessly and serve their plantations needs as well as endure grotesque and horrific conditions and abuses from the family they serve submissive and soul shattered by their inhumane acts they’d adopted as a way to control and “remind their enslaved of their place” justifying their actions that are so unfathomably wrong.