The Slave Raffle

In 1774, Williamsburg, Virginia is a hotbed of political agitation, while at a distant plantation, young Bella Cosgrove knows little about a divided country headed toward war. Recognized at Sweet Meadows as "young mistess" to hundreds of slaves, Bella lives at The Pillars with her estranged Loyalist parents; the domineering man she calls Opah, and a melancholy mother gauzily adrift in the past. Bright and arrogant, Bella avoids social obligations, and, like her father, is deeply attached to the land. Brutality, however, is knotted in the powerful hands of the slave overseer, and Bella can't overlook the heartbreaking suffering that he inflicts on the people her father calls "family". On her fourteenth birthday Bella receives a surprising gift, a terrified girl Opah has won in a lottery and whose African name is Anaka. Thrilled by the power of ownership, Bella vows to make the captive an obedient, devoted companion, but when the spirited teenager resists physical force, a struggle ensues. After a beloved cousin intervenes Bella agrees to be more lenient, a promise she will one day fail to keep. The contest involves two embattled adolescents bound by a complicated relationship--- one strong-willed and controlling, and the other clever, helpless, and desperate to be free. Many lives are explored in the novel, some living in the lowly Slave Quarters and others at the stately Pillars. There are happy arrivals and wrenching departures, unexpected disclosures, a shocking betrayal, and a final bitter rupture, but as Bella slowly awakens to her own humanity and the misery of bondage, a gentle tutor and an opinionated aunt broaden her world. A romance with Charley Walker, a thoughtful college student, brings joy and perspective to her life although Anaka remains a daunting challenge. As the Revolutionary War against the British Monarchy finally explodes, illness and death profoundly affect Bella, who must deal not only with a chaotic household, but with plantation affairs as well. Yet as passionate Americans are creating their own brand of independence, she too, in a momentous crisis, finds a way to break with tradition, rebel against injustice, and create a better, more fulfilling way to exist, not only for herself, but for those dependent on her for survival.