The Life and Times of Persimmon Wilson
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"Drunken Bride, Texas, April 1875. Writing furiously in a jail cell in the days leading up to his hanging, former slave Persimmon "Persy" Wilson's last wish is to set the record straight. He may be guilty, but not of what he stands accused: the kidnapping and rape of his master's wife. Fifteen years earlier, Persy had been sold to Sweetmore, a Louisiana sugar plantation, alongside a striking young house slave named Chloe. Persy and Chloe arrive bound together in chains, a circumstance out of which is forged a perilous love affair and dreams of escape. But on the eve of the Union Army's takeover of New Orleans, an outraged and jealous Master Wilson shoots Persy and flees with Chloe and his other slaves to Texas. So begins Persy's epic journey, a sweeping tale that takes readers from the sweltering exhaustion of plantation life to the final battles of the Civil War, from the isolation and bitter cold of the Texas frontier to the brutal yet life-affirming ways of the Comanche warriors who show Persy what it means to control one's own destiny. Facing unimaginable hardship in his quest to find Chloe -- the sole silver lining of an awful past -- Persimmon gradually regains the dignity and selfhood that years of brutal subjugation had eroded. Perfect for fans of Cold Mountain and The Invention of Wings, this is the moving testimony of a man whose remarkable odyssey reveals the power of love and the depth of the human spirit." -- From publisher's description.
1860. Persimmon "Persy" Wilson is sold to Sweetmore, a Louisiana sugar plantation, alongside a light-skinned house slave named Chloe. Their deep and instant connection fueled a love affair and inspired plans to escape Wilson, their owner, who claimed Chloe as his concubine. On the eve of the Union Army's attack on New Orleans, Wilson shot Persy, and fled with Chloe and his other slaves to Texas. Determined to reunite with his lost love, Persy's odyssey sees him captured by the Comanche; teaches him the meaning and the price of freedom; and eventually ends with him sitting in a jail cell in Drunken Bride, Texas, accused of the kidnapping and rape of Wilson's wife.
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I'm not generally drawn to Civil War fiction or, in particular, slave narratives. However, in the past couple of years I've read several and have been pleased with them all. There was Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez; Wash by Margaret Wrinkle; Come August, Come Freedom by Gigi Amateau. All were very well done. Now I've read The Life and times of Persimmon Wilson by Nancy Peacock, which is different from the others but is also excellent.
Persy, as he is known, is sold by his owner's estate in Virginia to a cane plantation in Louisiana. There, he is mistreated by “Master” Joseph Wilson, but also manages to fall in love with Chloe, a light-skinned house slave who Master takes as his “fancy.” But the book begins as Persy is waiting to be hanged for killing Master Wilson and Persy, who learned to read and write as a child, asks for pencil and paper so that he can write down his story. The rest of the book is that story—from abuse on the plantation, trysts with Chloe, Master Wilson's move to Texas as a means to evade the Yankees, emancipation, capture by a band of Comanche, and so on. It's all very exciting stuff as Persy attempts to reunite with Chloe.
Black, white, and Indian, this book is filled with memorable characters. Persy himself, whom we meet as a boy of 17, is the centerpiece of the book, and it's not hard to sympathize with his plight. Master Wilson, who is almost comical in his pretense of benevolence, is an excellent antagonist, even if he is something of a villainous stereotype. And Chloe, the beautiful, uneducated house slave who is repeatedly raped by Wilson, completes the triangle.
While some of the story is familiar—slavery is a vile institution and that is amply demonstrated by the working conditions, the whippings, the inhuman treatment—there are some new elements here. For one, Chloe is so light-skinned that she can be mistaken for being white, which adds a complexity as the book reaches its climax. For another, Persy's capture and assimilation into the Comanche highlights the genocide perpetrated against the American Indians during this period. Don't expect to come away from this book feeling good about 19th Century white America, Confederate or Yankee either one.
This is a very well written, compelling (and exciting!) story of one man's life before and after the Civil War, but it's more than that as well.
