Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jan 2010
304 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Information
wench \'wench\ n. from Middle English "wenchel," 1 a: a girl, maid, young woman; a female child.
Tawawa House in many respects is like any other American resort before the Civil War. Situated in Ohio, this idyllic retreat is particularly nice in the summer when the Southern humidity is too much to bear. The main building, with its luxurious finishes, is loftier than the white cottages that flank it, but then again, the smaller structures are better positioned to catch any breeze that may come off the pond. And they provide more privacy, which best suits the needs of the Southern white men who vacation there every summer with their black, enslaved mistresses. It's their open secret.
Lizzie, Reenie, and Sweet are regulars at Tawawa House. They have become friends over the years as they reunite and share developments in their own lives and on their respective plantations. They don't bother too much with questions of freedom, though the resort is situated in free territory – but when truth-telling Mawu comes to the resort and starts talking of running away, things change.
To run is to leave behind everything these women value most – friends and families still down South – and for some it also means escaping from the emotional and psychological bonds that bind them to their masters. When a fire on the resort sets off a string of tragedies, the women of Tawawa House soon learn that triumph and dehumanization are inseparable and that love exists even in the most inhuman, brutal of circumstances – all while they are bearing witness to the end of an era.
An engaging, page-turning, and wholly original novel, Wench explores, with an unflinching eye, the moral complexities of slavery.
"Heart-wrenching, intriguing, original and suspenseful, this novel showcases Perkins-Valdez’s ability to bring the unfortunate past to life." - Publishers Weekly
"A striking debut...compelling and unsentimental." - Kirkus Reviews
"Starred Review. Readers of historical fiction centering on Southern women's stories like Lalita Tademy's Cane River ... will be moved by the skillful portrayal of Lizzie's precarious situation and the tragic stories of her fellow slaves." - Library Journal
"A striking story of heart and mind, Wench, captures time and delivers it to
us. A superb and outstanding achievement." - Jeffrey Lent, author of In the
Fall & A Peculiar Grace
"With Wench, Dolen Perkins-Valdez establishes herself as a remarkable
storyteller. Through unforgettable characters and luscious prose, the past is
able to breathe and live on these pages. Perkins-Valdez establishes herself as a
powerful new voice in fiction." - Tayari Jones, author of Leaving Atlanta
and The Untelling
"A finely wrought story that explores the emotional lives of four slave women
caught in the web of the peculiar institution." - Lalita Tademy, author of
Cane River and Red River
"This elegantly-structured novel, Dolen Perkins-Valdez presents an engrossing
subject, shedding much-needed light on the racial intricacies of America's
past." - Margaret Cezair-Thompson, author of The Pirate's Daughter
This information about Wench was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Norman E. Jones
Dolen Perkins-Valdez is a graduate of Harvard and a former University of California President's Postdoctoral Fellow at UCLA. She is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel Wench; her fiction has appeared in The Kenyon Review, StoryQuarterly, StorySouth, and elsewhere. In 2011, she was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards and the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award for fiction. She was also awarded the First Novelist Award by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. Dolen received a DC Commission on the Arts Grant for her second novel Balm.
Dolen is the current Chair of the Board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. On behalf of the foundation, she has visited nearly every public high school in the District of Columbia to talk about the importance of reading and writing. She ...
... Full Biography
Link to Dolen Perkins-Valdez's Website
Name Pronunciation
Dolen Perkins-Valdez: VAL-dez
The Flower Sisters
by Michelle Collins Anderson
From the new Fannie Flagg of the Ozarks, a richly-woven story of family, forgiveness, and reinvention.
The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton
As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
