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Gr 8 Up—Fourteen-year-old Essie Mirth is ashamed of her prostitute mother, Praline, and the house of repute on Minis Street in 1880s Savannah (Forest City). She has a protector in storytelling caretaker Ma Clara. Essie earns a housekeeping position at Abby Bowfield's boardinghouse, where she makes her only friend, Binah, and meets a mysterious boarder named Dorcas Vashon. She is taken under Dorcas's wing, leaves her humble beginnings behind, and reinvents herself in Baltimore as Victo...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Set during the post-Reconstruction era, this novel offers an intriguing view of nineteenth-century African American upper-echelon society. Fourteen-year-old Essie longs to escape her miserable life in Savannah, Georgia, where her mother earns her living as a prostitute. Essie finds refuge in the company of an older woman, Ma Clara, who takes a maternal interest in the girl and encourages her aspirations. After leaving home, Essie meets the wealthy Miss Dorcas Vashon, who offers to turn her into a lad...Log In or Sign Up to Read More