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Content snapshot
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Violence
A lot
The violence of slavery depicted throughout: beatings, the threat of being sold, and the systemic brutality of the institution
Language
Barely any
Mild language throughout
Sexual Content
Some
Some sexual content including the sexual exploitation inherent in the slave system
Substance Use
None
No substance use
Emotional Intensity
A lot
Strong psychological content: the psychological costs of slavery for the enslaved, the moral complexity of complicity, and what it takes to act against the system you were born into
What this book is about
Sue Monk Kidd's historical novel alternates between Sarah Grimké — who grew up to become one of America's first female abolitionists — and Handful (Hetty), an enslaved woman given to Sarah as a gift on her eleventh birthday. The brutal realities of slavery are depicted unflinchingly as both women pursue their own forms of liberation across decades of antebellum Charleston. Based on the historical Sarah Grimké, the novel illuminates the particular moral complexity of a white woman's abolitionism.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Slavery violence and brutality throughout
Sexual exploitation as part of the slave system
The white abolitionist's complicity examined without excusing it
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