Review: The Wedding Gift by Marlen Suyapa Bodden

The Wedding Gift

by Marlen Suyapa Bodden

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Pages: 320

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  When prestigious plantation owner Cornelius Allen gives his daughter Clarissa’s hand in marriage, she takes with her a gift: Sarah—her slave and her half-sister.  Raised by an educated mother, Clarissa is not a proper southern belle she appears to be with ambitions of loving who she chooses and Sarah equally hides behind the façade of being a docile house slave as she plots to escape. Both women bring these tumultuous secrets and desires with them to their new home, igniting events that spiral into a tale beyond what you ever imagined possible and it will leave you enraptured until the very end.


Kritters Thoughts:  Two half sisters, one is a slave to the family and the other sister and she realizes through the book that freedom is all she wants and she is willing to give up many things to get it.  This book starts when both girls are at a young age and then progresses through many ups and downs and ends when adulthood is under way.  

I loved the new take on a subject that has many books written about it - slavery in the South.  Told from two perspectives made the book so much deeper than if it had only been told from one - both the slave Sarah and the mother of the home Theodora Allen tell the story and sometimes a scene overlaps which was awesome to see two people tell a story through their own eyes.  If you think you have read all the books about slavery in the South, stop and read this one - a different glimpse that with the hope of freedom put the book in the most positive light.

I was so glad to be surprised on the very last page!  It made the whole book completely worth the trip!  Read this one to the very last word!


Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Wunderkind PR.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.