The yellow wife has a quote before the book begins by William Wilberforce: “You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you didn’t know” This is such a poignant and timeless quote.
What an eye opening, compelling story about race, discrimination, perception, self-worth and family. With what seems to be growing unrest between black communities and police agencies reported in the news in the last couple of years I have been drawn to learn more about black and other minority groups. This is historical fiction but is based on the life of an incredible woman. Like everyone else, I learned about slavery and the mistreatment they endured but I am not sure I knew how some of those insanely wrong views seem to have carried over the generations to today almost as if by DNA. It is as terrifying and worrisome as it is sad.
Of course it has long been known that families of wealth and power choose fair skinned slaves for maids and house help over dark skinned. Many of those men abused the girls and women for their own twisted desires. I didn’t realize that the more fair skinned were called “yellow”. These so-called yellow slaves sometimes would be bought and occasionally become wives. The children of yellow women and the slave owners got raised with the benefits of the white people even while their mothers knew no such benefits.
This story shows to what lengths men of wealth and power as a direct result of slavery and slave trade go to to keep profiting on the lives of others.

I was given an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

I am not capable of articulating how much I loved this book and all the emotions it stirred in me.

It feels wrong to love a book so much that puts human cruelty front and centre.

But to me, this book is a reminder. A reminder of the pain inflicted on Black men, women and children, alike, because artificial constructs were created about greater than and less than. That white men got drunk on power that they gave themselves and then continued to spew hate because to do otherwise, threatened their ability to maintain power and control.

“I knew that the beating was more an example of his power than anything. He liked to keep his foot on our necks, squeezing until it felt like we could not breathe without his permission…”

We cannot forget that this happened and that with a world still filled with such hate, it could happen again. While its evolution would take a different form – when we allow a sense of superiority to exist for no reason other than the colour of skin – it does not seem that far fetched. Men, women and children are still being targeted and murdered for no reason other than their skin. So while yes, they do not require a pass to wander the streets – have we really moved that far forward if we continue to allow acts of hate to rule the day and their perpetrators to not be held accountable?

True freedom will only exist when there no longer exist invisible shackles and chains that continue to be the foot on their necks, squeezing until it feels like they can’t breathe.

Pheby’s story of sacrifice for survival is one that should be read by everyone. It is uncomfortable. And if you read it and don’t feel uncomfortable, you need to read it again. Despite fiction, this book is not for your entertainment. It is there as a tool to teach through story. A tool to expose the pain of the past to try to pave way for a better future.

Sadeqa Johnson novel Yellow Wife is an amazing piece of historical fiction that teaches about slave trade and the history of slave jailers. This story is inspired by the story of Mary Lumpkin and Lumpkin’s jail in Richmond, Virginia. This is not an easy read, but an important one.

Thank you #netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Yellow Wife is the story of Pheby Delores Brown, a biracial slave woman that had to endure horrendous things in order to secure freedom for those she loved. The book was very fast paced and well written. Although it was hard to read at times because of the depictions of slavery, I am happy to have read it and I would recommend it to all lovers of historical fiction.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this ARC.

Yellow Wife is a must-read for everyone. It is exceptionally written, even getting over the flaws I find with the first-person POV. You don't need to know anything other than Pheby knows, adding to the horror, the shock, and the intensity of the time.

My only wish is that the ending was done with a little more detail. It's an abrupt ending after the big dramatic moment and then just letters between Pheby and one of her daughters. There is a lot missing in terms of what happened to Pheby between the events at the very end and the letters, and it leaves a little bit of an anticlimactic feeling.

However, that doesn't negate the importance of the book.

I love to read historical fiction! This was a great read! I enjoyed following Pheby’s story, from the plantation to the slave jail. I found myself putting my book down every so often so that I could research some of the names and places that were sprinkled throughout the book. My heart broke a little every time things did not go right for Pheby, and there were so many sacrifices she had to make, however, she kept on! What a great story of perseverance!

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for the opportunity to read and review this book!

Yellow Wife is well written historical fiction, depicting slavery in the 1850's.
It is a vivid portrayal of how slaves were treated in that time period. Black female slaves were quite often taken advantage of, by their white masters. Black males were beaten often and children were sold repeatedly to other plantations or worse. Slave trading and slave jails were a very large part of this story. It centered around Pheby, of mixed race-not black-not white and not free. It tells of her struggles to keep her children safe, as she is purchased by the jailer. The sacrifices made by these women for their families. Incredibly brave, given the circumstances of their horrific lives. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishet for allowing me to read this story. The only negative thing i can say about this book, is the ending. I felt it was too rushed.

Though born on a Charles City, Virginia plantation, Pheby Delores Brown enjoys a happy childhood as the daughter of the Master and his slave mistress. Then everything suddenly changes. After an accident kills the Master, Missus sells Pheby, who ends up in the horrific Lapier slave jail in Richmond, Virginia.

When Pheby is sold at auction, the Jailer buys her. Pheby becomes his Yellow Wife and bears his daughters. Yellow Wife is all about compromises made for survival and to protect vulnerable children, hoping for a better life for them.

Thank you to the publisher for an advance copy of this book via netgalley!

A beautifully written yet heartbreaking read. You will tear up when reading the harsh treatments described in this book. The author is fierce for including such harsh realities in her book. If we don’t read about such atrocities, we will forget and be prone to redoing our mistakes. Let this book make you feel uncomfortable.

Sadeqa Johnson has written a historical fiction novel about an aspect of the slave trade that has received little exposure- the history of slave jailers. Slave jailers were the most cruel of individuals. They housed chatels of slaves before they were sold and also offered a jail, where slave owners could send problem slaves to be punished. The slaves were housed in the most deplorable of premises, and were beaten and tortured to convince other slaves to listen to their masters.

In the Yellow Wife, Pheby Delores Brown is the Yellow Wife (a yellow wife is a black wife who could pass for white). Pheby grew up on a plantation and was fortunate to be spared cruel treatment. But just before her 18th birthday, when Pheby was supposed to go to school in Boston, she is sold by the master's jealous wife to a slave jailer. Her love Essex escaped just before she was sold, and she is sold on the night of her own beloved mother's funeral. She is suddenly all alone in a cruel strange world.

Sadeqa has based her book on an actual jail, called Lumpkin's Jail, owned by Robert Lumpkin. Robert Lumpkin, his wife Mary and their five children lived on a half acre of land which housed the jail. His wife Mary, was an enslaved mixed-race woman. Pheby is based on Mary Lumpkin. Sadeqa's accidental discovery is what lead her to write this book.

I was horrified to read about this but it truly took place. Sadeqa has put together an informative and important historical fiction novel. Thank you #netgalley and @simonandschusterca for the e-arc of #theyellowwife. #5stars

Virginia 1850. In a time when enslave people were punished for reading and writing, Pheby Delores Brown was taught just that plus arithmetic, geography, and piano. In fact Pheby, who’s the daughter of a slave mother and a plantation owner, was promised she’d be safely sent up north to receive a proper education. Although the daughter of a white man has gained her some privilege, she is still a slave working at a plantation with a promise she’d see freedom one day.
She finds love with a fellow slave and together plan ways for him to escape to the north. But when her mother unexpectedly dies, and her father becomes seriously ill, the Master’s jealous white wife sends her off to a slavers jail.

As a slave who’s fair skinned and beautiful, Pheby is almost immediately snatched up by the Jailer himself – a disgustingly cruel and sadistic man, and becomes his mistress at the jail know by others as the Devil’s Half Acre. Allowed very little freedom, every day is a test for her, and everyday a struggle for survival. She is forced to bear his children and entertain his like-minded guests. Forbidden to read or write, she hides a journal in her dress, and writes the stories of all the slaves who are sent and sold at the jail. Pheby Delores Brown is now woman who must make the best of a situation in order to protect her children. She must stay a step ahead of the Jailer and keep his moods calm and sedated, as his cruel tendencies could lash out at everyone she loves. When a shackled slave from the old plantation arrives at the jail, Pheby must make heartbreaking decisions that affect all that she loves.

Although Yellow Wife is 288 pages, it reads like an epic story. This book will have your turning page after page with your heart beating out of your body. It is tragic, heartbreaking, and shockingly inspired by real individuals in 1850’s Virginia.

A big thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for sending this advanced copy.
5 STARS

3.5 STARS - Yellow Wife is a powerful and unflinching Historical Fiction novel that vividly depicts the violent and inhumane treatment of Black slaves in 1850's America. While the story begins on a southern plantation, author Sadeqa Johnson focuses her story on a lesser known aspect of the era - the slave trade and slave jailers.

As as an avid reader of Historical Fiction, I have read many books set in this era, some written by a few of my favourite authors - Kathleen Grissom (The Kitchen House), Lawrence Hill (The Book of Negroes) and Alex Haley (Roots). Those are HUGE shoes to fill, but Johnson holds her own and gives readers a well-researched story based on the real life of Mary Lumpkin, a mulatto woman who was born a slave and became the mistress of Devil's Half Acre, a notorious jail that dealt with the punishment and sale of slaves in Richmond, Virginia.

Johnson does not shy away from the brutality of the time, but she also focuses on the complicated relationships in families and those connections that are formed and maintained in order to survive. The story centres around Pheby whose decisions (and inaction) were sometimes hard to get behind but will give readers much to discuss.

The story has a bit of an insular feel once Pheby begins living at the jail and focus shifts to her roles at the jail, the protection of her children and the Jailer's changing whims. Life at the jail - the sounds, smells, living conditions and violent punishments - are vividly described and are not for the faint of heart.

I enjoyed this book and always love learning about new aspects of history, but I found the ending too rushed and although an epilogue gives some detail, I would have appreciated more closure. I was also surprised at how certain situations (childbirth, romance in horrific conditions) felt glossed over and less realistically described compared to other aspects of the story.

Overall, this was an impressive and well-researched novel based on a part of American history I knew little about. It is a hard-hitting, emotional, and eye-opening story about family, loss, humanity and endurance.

Links to my reviews of books mentioned in my review:
The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to the publisher for providing me a complimentary digital copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.

This story follows an enslaved woman forced to make decisions regarding love and freedom while living in a slave jail in Virginia.

Pheby Brown was a slave girl on a plantation who was always promised her freedom on her eighteenth birthday. She had plans to live out her free life with her love Essex, an enslaved man who also works at the plantation. But when her birthday finally comes around, not only does she lose her mother and her love, she finds herself being sold to another master and a place known as the Devil’s Half-Acre, a jail where slaves are broken, tortured, and sold every day. She has it better than some though and she spends her days in the main house as the mistress of the brutal man who owns the jail. He is one of the most vile men but shows a certain amount of kindness to Pheby and she ends up bearing his children. As her story unfolds, she must make painful choices and sacrfices not only for herself but for the lives of her children.

I thought this story was very well written and I enjoyed how it was written from Pheby's point of view. While this was a work of fiction, it was very detailed and based on other events of the past. It was heart breaking to read of Pheby's journey and the choices that she needed to make for her safety. Thanks to Simon and Schuster Canada for sending me a copy of this book to read.

Yellow Wife follows Pheby Delores Brown, a slave in the 1850s, as she moves from the plantation she grew up on to a jail in Richmond, Virginia. Her spirit is tested as she must do whatever she can to survive in these times and hope for her freedom one day.

Riveting, heartbreaking and horrifying at times, Yellow Wife was incredibly written. I was captivated by Pheby's story and her spirit. I've never read anything in this timeframe or setting and found it both original and educational. It is heartbreaking to think of what we as human beings have been through history. This book was an absolute page-turner and I strongly recommend it.

The Yellow Wife is one of the most well-written books I have ever read. Sadeqa Johnson has written such a beautiful, heartbreaking story that despite being horrified by all the abuses that slaves endured, I could not put the book down. The story is about the life of a girl named Pheby Delores Brown, who was raised on a plantation in Charles City, Virginia. Her mother was a slave and her father was the white plantation owner, who promised Pheby her freedom when she turned 18. When things went wrong, she was sold into slavery and ended up being kept as a mistress by the bullying owner of a jail called Hell's Half Acre, where slaves were tortured into submission and sold. She is forced to make many heartbreaking choices between her true love, her children, the other slaves working in the jail, and those being tortured and sold, and yet the words flow off the pages so gently that still this is a beautiful story. It is fictional but based closely on real people, places and events, which I loved reading about in the author's note at the end of the book. Sadeqa Johnson was drawn to write this story after walking along the Richmond Slave Trail and visiting the original site of Lumpkin’s jail in Richmond Virginia and learning about Mary Lumpkin, who was the real life jailer's 'yellow wife'. After reading this book I would really like to visit these landmarks as well and learn more about all that has happened here.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson

cw/tw ⚠️ racism, slavery, extreme violence, murder, miscarriage, infant death, rape


While this story is, at it’s heart, fiction, Johnson includes a beautiful author’s note detailing her inspirations for the characters and the plot. Pheby Delores Brown is based on a real woman named Mary Lumpkin and her time living at Lumpkin’s Jail in Richmond Virginia. Knowing that this harrowing tale is directly plucked from history makes it all the more heartbreaking to read.

Johnson’s writing is tender and lovely and the way she draws her characters is spectacular. Similar to my experience reading The Book of Negroes, I found parts of this book extremely difficult to read, but in my discomfort I saw privilege and sat with that feeling then moved on.

While this is historical fiction with a vein of truth, Johnson does an excellent job of unfolding the plot so that suspense drives you quickly through the second half of the book. I was on tenterhooks with anticipation, cheering for Pheby while simultaneously fearing for her.

This was one of my favourite historical fiction reads of all time. The Yellow Wife is out on January 12th, and I urge you to pick up a copy!

Johnson is an American author of three previous novels, but this is her first historical fiction. The story begins in Virginia on a cotton plantation in 1850. It follows the life of Pheby, who is the daughter of a slave and the plantation owner and as such has always had special privileges. She has been promised freedom for her 18th birthday, but instead finds herself on the way to an infamous jail in Richmond. There she must do what is needed to survive. This is a powerful story, but some of the brutality is difficult to read. Although it is a work of fiction, the story was inspired by the real Richmond Jail known as Devil's Half Acre and the life of the real Jailer (The Bully Trader) and his wife. It is a wonderful recommendation for fans of the genre especially for customers that enjoyed books such as "The Book of Negroes".

I'm finding it impossible to stop thinking about this book! Pheby's story has had a firm grip on my heart from its opening lines and it seems to have no intention of letting me go.

At seventeen, she was unprepared for what life had in store for her. Born a slave, she was raised to never believe herself to be one and by comparison, she was shown to be several steps above. When tragedy strikes, everything she knew, every bit of safety she ever felt, was suddenly ripped away and Pheby learned quick what it was to have absolutely no rights and no freedoms. To have every move dictated, to have every thought deemed unworthy, to have no control over her own body. She learned though. She found ways to survive, to adapt, to thrive. And when given the chance, despite the many times she almost lost hope, she gave her all and proved what she was willing to sacrifice for love.

One of the things I loved most about this story was how raw it felt. It gutted me, flayed me wide open, scattered my feels all over the place. As a black woman, I can never truly imagine the horrors that my people faced during slavery. So much of what they experienced is lost. And although we live in times that are far better than what existed then, we're not on equal footing. Racism still exists and it oozed through the pages of this book. The hatred, the ignorance, the hypocrisy... all of it was tempered by the faith and pride of Pheby and the people she cared about. While these characters were constantly on edge, they found love and hope and freedom amongst themselves. It was beautiful and had an almost poetic quality to it.

I wavered on giving this book all of the stars simply because I wasn't satisfied with the ending. But then I realized that I probably wouldn't have been satisfied if the author had gifted us with some grandiose version of a romantic happily ever after either. I'd probably be pissed, to be honest. There was nothing pretty to be found during those times, but the author found a way to highlight the profound beauty that couldn't be defeated. And for that... all the stars!!

Phelby Brown was born in a plantation in Virginia and grew up with the promise that she would get her freedom when she turns eighteen. Her mother was knowledgeable of natural remedies and taught Phelby as much as she could, while Phelby also learned to read and write and play piano. Unfortunately, circumstances changed and life did not turn out as Phelby was promised.

In Yellow Wife, Sadeqa Johnson tells a powerful story. It includes heart-wrenching descriptions of auctioning slaves, floggings and the humiliations that slaves endured. It also describes great perseverance, friendships and sacrifices.

The book was hard to read in many places and had my heart pounding as I anticipated what was coming; however, it is a story that I am glad I read. Phelby’s perseverance and determination to take care of her family made the book for me.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada for an ARC of Yellow Wife via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Well-developed characters pull you into the story immediately and stirs strong emotions within you. A grim time of history masterfully narrated. This hauntingly beautiful, heart wrenching and tragic novel will keep you on the edge of your seat right from the first page.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada who provided me with a copy of this book. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.