The Wedding Gift: A Novel
Written by Marlen Suyapa Bodden
Narrated by Jenna Lamia and January LaVoy
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
When Cornelius Allen gives his daughter Clarissa's hand in marriage, he presents her with a wedding gift: the young slave she grew up with, Sarah. Sarah is also Allen's daughter and Clarissa's sister, a product of his longtime relationship with his house slave, Emmeline. When Clarissa's husband suspects that their newborn son is illegitimate, Clarissa and Sarah are sent back to her parents, Cornelius and Theodora, in shame, setting in motion a series of events that will destroy this once powerful family.
Told through alternating viewpoints of Sarah and Theodora Allen, Cornelius' wife, The Wedding Gift is a stunning novel that shows where the complicated and compelling bonds and relationships between women explored in novels like The Help and The Secret Life of Bees began. Marlen Suyapa Bodden's novel is an intimate portrait of slavery and the 19th century South that shows where this particular American story and dynamic all started and will leave listeners breathless.
Includes a reading group guide read by the author
Marlen Suyapa Bodden
MARLEN SUYAPA BODDEN is a lawyer at The Legal Aid Society in New York City, the nation’s oldest and largest law firm for the poor. She drew on her knowledge of modern and historical slavery, human trafficking, and human rights abuses to write The Wedding Gift, her first novel. Marlen is a graduate of New York University School of Law and Tufts University. In 2012, the University of Rhode Island awarded Marlen an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.
Related to The Wedding Gift
Related audiobooks
Call Your Daughter Home Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Necessary Lies: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Polished Hoe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Girls with No Names Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rapture of Canaan Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Secrets of Newberry Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Darkest Child Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wench: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secrets of Mary Bowser: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Yellow Wife: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Balm: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Glory over Everything: Beyond The Kitchen House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chariot on the Mountain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Five Smooth Stones: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sugar Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Life and Times of Persimmon Wilson: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Elysium Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Things Past Telling: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Trouble the Water: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masquerade: Book Two of the Unchained Trilogy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Kitchen House: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Greenwichtown Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Home Girl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Bitter Earth: The Story of Sugar Lacey Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Runaway Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mrs. Wiggins Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tomorrow's Bread Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sister of Mine: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Undertaker's Assistant Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Two Sisters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Historical Fiction For You
The Lost Apothecary: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rose Code: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5And Then There Were None Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tom Lake: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Song of Achilles: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Tattooist of Auschwitz: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Outlander Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Reformatory: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Neon Gods Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beneath a Scarlet Sky: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Perfume: The Story of a Murderer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Huntress: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lady Tan's Circle of Women Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Weyward: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Lost Names Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The House of Eve Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5That Bonesetter Woman: the new feelgood novel from the author of The Smallest Man Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5West with Giraffes: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dragon Teeth: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alice Network: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5News of the World: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rules of Magic: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All Quiet on the Western Front Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Keeper of Happy Endings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book of Magic: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Let Us Descend: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The River We Remember: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Wedding Gift
19 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was an amazing book! The level of detail and the different perspectives kept my attention throughout the book to the very end. Very emotional. Excellent writing.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book was a phenomenal read!
Enjoyed every moment. The ending was definitely a killer ending!