The Devil's Half-Acre by Kristen Green

 This is a harsh book to read about a hard topic. As the author states at the beginning of the book, they are not going to sugarcoat anything about the time period or the people they are writing about. There are quite a few parts of this book that are hard to read and I had to break it into chunks sometimes, just so I could absorb what the author was writing. Even if you think you know about slavery and that era from school or other places, this book really lays bare aspects of slavery that are not talked about enough and what it was like for those enslaved people. 

There is frank writing throughout the book about the choices that those who were enslaved made and what they went through that might have factored into those choices. Those who were enslaved had to often make really hard decisions about how they lived and interacted with not only their fellow enslaved people, but also with those who enslaved them and anyone who was not enslaved. 

There is really too much in this book to distill it down into one review, but all I can say is that this book is hard and it does not shy away from the history it discusses and it leaves you needing to learn more no matter how hard. 

A highly-recommended read, but be prepared for some tough reading. 

I received this book free from NetGalley and Basic Books to review and this is my honest review. 

Five out of five stars