The Lost German Slave Girl : The Extraordinary True Story of the Slave Sally Miller and Her Fight for Freedom

Rating:
Summary: Is she or isn't she?
Review: An extremely thought-provoking book. The author has done extensive research into what must have been quite a talked-about case in pre-Civil war New Orleans. The legal back-up is heavy and the quotes from men of the law are jaw-dropping to those of us in the 21st Century.
The author does make one misstatement--perhaps because he is Australian. He states that Lincoln freed the slaves. This is not true. The Emancipation Proclation freed not one slave--it was the 13th Amendment, passed after Lincoln's death at the end of the Civil War.
Other than that, this story is a well-researched glimpse into history and an America that is hard to recognize.

Rating:
Summary: fascinating historical fact with some necessary fictional ex
Review: This is a fascinating story in its own right, and a horrifying account of what slavery was like on a day-to-day basis for the people who lived with it in the Mississippi area. It's the little details the author gives that bring home how degrading the institution was for slaves and slave owners alike. Surprisingly the author is an Australian lawyer, I bought and read the book in paperback in Australia, but his research in the US has been meticulous. He has had to use fiction to fill in parts of the slave girl's story but this enhances rather than detracts from the overall narrative. I highly recommend it, very suitable for the thinking person's Christmas stocking!