
Historical fiction book · Open Library
Property
Unknown author · historical fiction
Valerie Martin’s **Property** delivers an eerily mesmerizing inquiry into slavery’s venomous effects on the owner and the owned. The year is 1828, the setting a Louisiana sugar plantation where Manon Gaudet, pretty, bitterly intelligent, and monstrously self-absorbed, seethes under the dominion of her boorish husband. In particular his relationship with her slave Sarah, who is both his victim and his mistress. Exploring the permutations of Manon’s own obsession with Sarah against the backdrop of an impending slave rebellion, **Property** unfolds with the speed and menace of heat lightning, ca
About this historical novel
Property by Unknown author is historical fiction rooted in Global / multiple. Valerie Martin’s **Property** delivers an eerily mesmerizing inquiry into slavery’s venomous effects on the owner and the owned. The year is 1828, the setting a Louisiana sugar plantation where Manon Gaudet, pretty, bitterly intelligent, and monstrously self-absorbed, seethes under the dominion of her boorish husband. In particular his relationship with her slave Sarah, who is both his victim and his mistress. Exploring the permutations of Manon’s own obsession with Sarah against the backdrop of an impending slave rebellion, **Property** unfolds with the speed and menace of heat lightning, ca
On HisFic we tag it under 1. Literary historical fiction so you can pair it with similar story types. Recurring themes include mistresses, plantation owners' spouses, slavery, women slaves, and plantation life.
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Plot summary
Valerie Martin’s **Property** delivers an eerily mesmerizing inquiry into slavery’s venomous effects on the owner and the owned. The year is 1828, the setting a Louisiana sugar plantation where Manon Gaudet, pretty, bitterly intelligent, and monstrously self-absorbed, seethes under the dominion of her boorish husband. In particular his relationship with her slave Sarah, who is both his victim and his mistress. Exploring the permutations of Manon’s own obsession with Sarah against the backdrop of an impending slave rebellion, **Property** unfolds with the speed and menace of heat lightning, ca
Subgenres
Eras
- Not classified yet
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Regions & places
Global / multiple
Themes
- mistresses
- plantation owners' spouses
- slavery
- women slaves
- plantation life
- triangles (interpersonal relations)
- slave insurrections
- fiction
Tags
open-library