The Soul Catcher

"The Soul Catcher" by Michael White

I got this book in a pile with some others.  I'm intrigued by slavery days and all that the blacks endured.  I'm saddened by the fact that this is part of our American history.  I've read numerous slavery books but this one was more from the standpoint of the whites.  It is about a runaway slave and the slave catcher who is hired to go after her.  Cain, the slave catcher is quite good at what he does but his life has only been a life of running away himself, a life of pain.  Through his journey to find Rosetta, the runaway slave, he discovers things about himself that he has kept hidden.  "Like it or not, slavery binds us all.  Master and slave alike."  It truly does.  Unfortunately we are all slaves to something.  But that is what Jesus came to earth for, to free us from our bondage.  "If God decided to put life in me who was I to say no to it?"   Controversial I know, but I dare go there.  We aren't the ones who decide if life is given or taken away.  Often times we think we have such control but really we don't.  God is the One who gives life and takes it away.  "Lot's of folks, especially white folks, find it easier to deny their goodness than go through the trouble of doing what they know's right."  It's not always easy to do what is right, especially when we are just doing what others have done before us.  But God is asking all of us to take a stand, even when it goes against others.  This book comes with a warning as it does have cursing and graphic details of harsh treatment done to the slaves.  But I have never read a book about slavery that didn't make me wince from the brutality of it.  God did create us all equal, none better than another.  We would all be better off to remember this.  This is a good book, where in the end the reality of what our fathers have done before us is not always the right way.  

The Kitchen House

"The Kitchen House" by Kathleen Grissom

This was a great book.  A really intense book but so, so good.  Once again I couldn't put it down.  It is about an orphaned Irish girl who becomes a slave.  She finds her "family" in the black slaves who also serve the household.  She is young and does not see the color of her skin as different from the other slaves but they know one day she will be the one in the big house.  The story is told from two viewpoints, Lavinia the Irish girl and Belle, a black slave.  The book really brings you into the story and leaves you sad at all the wrong done to slaves, appalled at the secrets in families and proud of those that stood with kindness no matter skin color.  "What the color is, who the daddy be, who the mama is don't mean nothin'.  We a family, carin' for each other.  Family make us strong in times of trouble.  We all stick together, help each other out.  That the real meanin' of family."  We are all family, all attached to one another in some way.  We all can help each other, doesn't matter where we came from, where we are going or what we look like, we are called to help others.  This book shows that clearly.  It was a heartbreakingly good book.  I'm always astounded that slavery is a part of America's history, it grieves me.  And I know forms of it still exist today.  God weeps for those that others call outcasts and He loves them just as much.  May we right the wrongs that have been done.