4/5 stars
Night Wherever We Go, by Tracey Rose Peyton (2023)
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TW: Slave narrative set in Texas in the 1850's - so, there is physical & sexual violence
This is a beautifully told story about multiple women enslaved at a plantation in Texas, owned by the Harlow family. The Harlows have first names, of course, but the slaves just call them "the Lucys" - short for Lucifer. Unlike in most slave plantation narratives, the Lucys are not wealthy. They struggle to keep the plantation afloat, while managing their own acrimonious marriage. In an attempt to bolster the success of the plantation, the Lucys bring in a "stockman," whose sole purpose is to impregnate women so that the offspring can be sold or, eventually, put to work. The depiction of people as chattel - to be used, bred, and sold - is heartbreaking in its realism. However, the women learn of the scheme and take precautions to make sure they don't get pregnant.
That's basically the plot, at least according to the book description. Not very complex, but what makes this book profound is the relationship between the women, and their own internal dialogues. The plot is just something the characters revolve around. Peyton does a wonderful job of portraying their camaraderie and ingenuity in finding ways to maintain some control over their own bodies, while entrenched in a system designed to prevent it.
I also loved the fact that the enslaved men and women were not all clumped together into one label, "African," but were shown as coming from many different regions and countries within the African continent. They have differing religious beliefs, languages, and traditions, creating a textured community of real people, rather than a homogenous simplification meant to signify "slaves."
My only issue was with the way the novel is narrated - mostly in the third person, but slipping occasionally into a first person "we." When the narrative was focusing on the individual women - their thoughts and feelings, their backstory - the narrative made sense, but when it switched to the universal "we" it was hard to figure out who was supposed to be telling the story. I imagine this was a tool used by Peyton to illustrate a more universal point of view of "the slaves," but in the actual read it just felt a little jarring.
Ultimately, though, a really good book about the will to survive.
UP NEXT: When We Were Sisters, by Fatimah Asghar
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