Read it or Weep

Maryam Priscilla Grace was born in West Africa around 1758. She was abducted by slave traders at age 10. Maryam had a gift for learning languages which served her well over time. While crossing the Atlantic a pirate, named Caesar, captured the ship Maryam was traveling on. He freed all the slaves but her. She became his translator. Maryam learned healing and midwifery which eventually made her more valuable than a field worker when she was eventually sold to a Virginia plantation owner. Maryam married James and had two sons who are sold to pay off a debt. Maryam is sold again to a widowed Scottish farmer who treated his slaves, his property, fairly. During this time, she became the mother to a baby boy whose mother died in childbirth. It was also during this time she helped runaways and became pregnant with her owner’s child. He gave Maryam, her son and their unborn child freedom and eventually settled in Ohio.

This historical epic is loosely based on the life of a 112-year-old woman the author discovered in the 1870 U.S. Census for Ohio. It is the story of one woman’s hard harsh journey.

~Emma