The Bondwoman's Narrative

Critical Praise

"Thanks to the unrelenting probe of a Harvard University historian, again, we get the story from the woman's mouth itself….We learn the day-to-day experiences of a bondwoman through her fiction....Because of Gates's meticulous research and editing, we see in the intimacy of Crafts's novel the gross, ugly vulgarity of the 'peculiar institution.'"
-Maya Angelou

"Immensely entertaining and illuminating…probably the first novel written by a black woman."
-New York Times Book Review

"A wonderful, really spectacular discovery!...An astonishing tale of meticulous research and detective work....For the first time we gain amazing insight into 'the pre-edited consciousness' of an American fugitive slave."
-David Brion Davis, Sterling Professor Emeritus, Yale University

"Compelling...a work of sagacity and moral purpose...likely will be the high-water mark of the year in American studies...and a bright light for years to come in African American literature."
-Dallas Morning News

"Remarkable...engaging...harrowing and memorable scenes...[and] exhibits a strong social critique...eloquent and persuasive."
-New York Newsday

"Engrossing."
-Entertainment Weekly

"A real find...a compelling, exciting, and moving story."
-Nina Baym, professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

"Entertaining….Has the arresting ring of authenticity….It is impossible to read Crafts's story and not admire her independent mind."
-Cleveland Plain Dealer

"American and African American literature are indebted to Henry Louis Gates, Jr....[This novel] offers readings of race that recall Toni Morrison's Paradise. Framed by Gates's masterful critical edition, [this] is another permanent text in the African American literary tradition."
-Rudolph P. Byrd, professor, Emory University

"Inestimable."
-New York Daily News

"A feat of extraordinary sleuthing...[a] scholarly coup...engages readers with two compelling stories, Crafts's search for independence and Gates's search for Crafts."
-Boston Magazine

"Crafts's manuscript contradicts, challenges, and confounds many prevailing notions about form, content, and intent of nineteenth-century women's fiction." -Frances Foster, professor, Emory University
"Convincing domestic details...a sharp observer of character." -Newsweek