Rated of 5
by Dorothy T. The House Girl is an engrossing read
I have always thought that the words “page-turner” is a very descriptive term for a novel that keeps me engrossed in the story and sympathetic to the characters. "The House Girl" is all of that, and I stayed up a couple of nights until the late hours because I just had to know what happened next.
Josephine Bell stole my heart; she is a house slave in Virginia, and we pick up her story in 1852. In a way she is privileged: Her mistress has taught her to read and allows her to paint alongside her. But Josephine is enslaved and longs to run. Part of me wanted her to run, but part of me wanted her to stay, in fear of what would happen to her if she were caught.
Forward to New York City, 2004, to Lina Sparrow, a new lawyer and the daughter of Oscar, a famous, if not particularly financially successful, painter, who for many years has been keeping secrets from Lina about her mother, who was also an artist. Lina begins an investigation into the life of Josephine Bell, and concurrently, her curiosity about her mother is piqued by her father’s upcoming show of paintings of her mother. Like Josephine, Lina is a strong, well-developed character, and her relationship with Oscar is another slant on the age-old theme of a child’s ambivalence, taking steps to back away from dependence on the parent while still wanting the closeness they have always had.
I liked the way the author used letters as a clever way to move the story along without slowing down the action and magazine and newspaper articles to fill in some details.
I heartily recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical novels, stories about family dynamics, mysteries, or who might be looking for a great book club selection.
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by Dorothy T. 
