My Name Is Ona Judge
In this dual-timeline novel, Suzette D. Harrison interweaves the story of Ona Judge, a favored slave of Martha Washington, with the modern-day story of Tessa Scott, a young Black woman who finds Ona Judge’s journal.
These two first-person narratives complement each other well. As a child aged ten, Ona is taken from her seamstress mother’s home on the Washingtons’ plantation and placed in the main house. Growing up as part of the Washington household, Ona travels from Mount Vernon to Pennsylvania where the Washingtons, anxious to avoid complying with the Gradual Abolition Law, rotate their slave household every six months and thereby prevent Ona and their other enslaved people from obtaining their freedom.
Tessa Scott, meanwhile, is independent, hard-working and smart, a likeable character with relationship problems. From the outset, her partner Dominic is manipulative, and their relationship is on a downward spiral toward abuse. As the stories unfold, it’s clear both Tessa and Ona are looking to escape. I very much enjoyed the switch-off between the two women’s distinct voices. Harrison captures both periods beautifully. Her modern characters’ outrage as they learn about Ona Judge’s life, and the lives of their forefathers, is honest and compelling. As one character exclaims, “I don’t care if they were the noble Washingtons!… They owned people.” Ona’s story is heart-wrenching but also inspiring. This is a great example of historical fiction revealing important truths while still being engaging to read.
