THE WEDDING GIFT, a historical fiction, is a wonderfully crafted retelling of the dark side of our U.S. history – a time when people owned other human beings and often abused them worse than they mistreated animals.  The story has been told before by many other authors, but never before THE WEDDING GIFT has anyone captured so vividly the despair the slaves, who had no control over their lives, must have felt. Ms. Bodden researched her topic well and told a compelling tale of Sarah Campbell, the slave daughter of a wealthy plantation owner in the Deep South before the Civil War. Sarah was willing to risk a beating or even death for freedom.  Beatings were often so severe as to cause death.

This book was a real page-turner. I honestly could not put it down. THE WEDDING GIFT, the debut novel by Marlen Suyapa Bodden, is without a doubt one of the best books I have read. I highly recommend this book to everyone.

To learn more about THE WEDDING GIFT check our Marlen Suyapa Bodden’s website at http://marlenbodden.com/.

I received this book in a giveaway hosted by Julie Valerie’s Book Blog at www.julievalerie.com.