Property by Valerie Martin

WINNER OF THE ORANGE PRIZE

Set in 1828 on a Louisiana sugar plantation, this novel from the bestselling author of Mary Reilly presents a “fresh, unsentimental look at what slave-owning does to (and for) one's interior life.... The writing—so prised and clean limbed—is a marvel" - Toni Morrison, Nobel Prize-winning author of Beloved

Manon Gaudet, pretty, bitterly intelligent, and monstrously self-absorbed, seethes under the dominion of her boorish husband. In particular his relationship with her slave Sarah, who is both his victim and his mistress.

Exploring the permutations of Manon’s own obsession with Sarah against the backdrop of an impending slave rebellion, Property unfolds with the speed and menace of heat lightning, casting a startling light from the past upon the assumptions we still make about the powerful and powerful.

REVIEWS

“Vivid and gripping. I read it in one gulp.” —Marilyn French

“Martin's writing is graceful, controlled and precise…The breadth of Martin's interests are remarkable. She moves around flawlessly in time and space: nothing frightens her.” —Fay Weldon

“As chilling and satisfying as anything she has written. . . . A fierce and uncompromising book, a bracing and cathartic work of art.” —Chicago Tribune

PRODUCT DETAILS
Paperback
Publisher: Knopf
ISBN: 978-0375713309
Pages: 196