Douglass' Women: A Novel

WINNER OF THE 2003 PEN OAKLAND JOSEPHINE MILES AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING WRITING AND THE BLACK CAUCUS OF THE ALA LITERARY AWARD Frederick Douglass the great African-American abolitionist was a man who cherished freedom in life and in love. In this ambitious work of historical fiction Douglass passions come vividly to life in the form of two women: Anna Murray Douglass and Ottilie Assing. Douglass Women is an imaginative rendering of these two women -- one black the other white -- in Douglass life. Anna his wife was a free woman of color who helped Douglass escape as a slave. She bore Douglass five children and provided him with a secure loving home while he traveled the world with his message. Along the way Douglass satisfied his intellectual needs in the company of Ottilie Assing a white woman of German-Jewish descent who would become his mistress for decades to come. How these two women find solidarity in their shared love for Douglass -- and his vision for a free America -- is at the heart of Jewell Parker Rhodes extraordinary epic novel.