Clotel
Kindle Edition
Start Publishing LLC · Ebook · November 1, 2012
First published in December 1853, Clotel was written amid then unconfirmed rumors that Thomas Jefferson had fathered children with one of his slaves.
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- Who it’s for
- A fast-paced, richly detailed novel whose human drama presses against the nation’s founding ideals.
- Genres
- Black Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction
- Published
- Start Publishing LLC, November 1, 2012
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Start with this bookAbout this book
First published in December 1853, Clotel was written amid then unconfirmed rumors that Thomas Jefferson had fathered children with one of his slaves. The story begins with the auction of his mistress, here called Currer, and their two daughters, Clotel and Althesa. The Virginian who buys Clotel falls in love with her, gets her pregnant, seems to promise marriage—then sells her.
Continue reading
Escaping from the slave dealer, Clotel returns to Virginia disguised as a white man in order to rescue her daughter, Mary, a slave in her father's house. A fast-paced and harrowing tale of slavery and freedom, of the hypocrisies of a nation founded on democratic principles, Clotel is more than a sensationalist novel. It is a founding text of the African American novelistic tradition, a brilliantly composed and richly detailed exploration of human relations in a new world in which race is a cultural construct.
Freedom and Friction
A fast-paced, richly detailed novel whose human drama presses against the nation’s founding ideals.
Come here for
- A harrowing narrative about slavery, freedom, and democratic hypocrisy
- A foundational work of African American fiction
Expect
- A sustained story of danger, escape, and family ties
- A clear-eyed look at race as a cultural construct
Where it sits
| Black Historical Fiction | 99% |
|---|---|
| Historical Fiction | 77% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Black Historical Fiction
- Black Mystery
- Black Romance
- Authors
- William Wells Brown
- Publisher
- Start Publishing LLC
- Published
- November 1, 2012
- Format
- Ebook
- Reading lane
- Black Historical Fiction