The House Girl

The House Girl, by former litigator Tara Conklin, employs overlapping contemporary and historical narratives in a novel that juxtaposes the lives of a  lawyer seeking reparations for the descendants of American slaves in 21st century New York and a 17-year old slave girl with secret talents who, in 1852, flees a tobacco farm in West Virginia. The author weaves a captivating tale of Josephine, the house girl of the title, who is a critical component of the case Lina Sparrow, a contemporary lawyer, attempts to piece together.  Lina is a junior member of a team at a prestigious law firm that attempts to add a notch to its belt by taking on an ambitious and historical case for slave reparations. Her assignment is to uncover a potential plaintiff, preferably a descendant of a former slave, who is willing to serve as the public face of the lawsuit.

Sparrow is an odd fit for the law firm, who typically targets Ivy League graduates who are carrying on the family tradition of a long and illustrious career at the firm.  Her familial lineage is less than impressive.  Her father is an artist who achieved success late in life, after struggling for years to raise her as a single father.

Josephine’s story is told in alternate chapters of the novel. Her master’s wife is a Southern beauty who was disowned by her wealthy family after she ran off to marry the son of a tobacco farmer. Lu Anne Bell endured several miscarriages before she bough Josephine into the house, as a 12-year-old, from the fields. Josephine was repeatedly raped by the master of the house, Lu Anne’s husband, and gave birth to a child who is reported to have died.



At the beginning of the novel, Josephine is hard at work planning her escape. Her mistress has been as kind to her as can be expected. On good days, Lu Anne would bring the young girl into the studio with her and encouraged her to paint alongside her. And as time progresses, the mistress also teaches young Josephine how to read. Yet, while there is no such thing as a completely good master or mistress, Josephine cannot wait until the day she overhears the other slaves talking about; the day when they will be freed by divine intervention.

Conklin then shifts the narrative to Sparrow, a native New Yorker who is tasked by her firm with finding a candidate that can spearhead the lawsuit and make the $6.2 trillion case palatable to the media. She stumbles on Josephine’s story through her father’s art world connections.  Josephine’s mistress, Lu Anne Bell, was a formative figure in nineteenth-century art and her collected works have been maintained by a notable Southern family. The collection is thought to be worth a considerable fortune.

However, in 2004, nothing is known of Josephine or her life. A paper trail that may shed some light on her story has been kept under lock and key by the Southern family who guard Lu Anne Bell’s work.  Despite this setback, Sparrow discovers a descendant of Josephine who may be an ideal spokesperson for the case. Before moving ahead, Sparrow must first piece together the events of young Josephine’s life after her mistress dies. Unfortunately, on the surface, it seems she may have simply vanished.



Conklin’s novel offers the reader a healthy dose of drama in the story of Josephine’s harrowing escape, while Sparrow chases leads that ultimately offer very little of the information she needs. The author creates a palpable tension throughout the novel as Josephine navigates the treacherous terrain of slave hunters, and Sparrow closes in on the truth. The two time periods explored in the narrative give the reader a well-rounded view of what it meant to be a slave and how the legacies of slavery are still felt in modern American society.

The House Girl is an absorbing work of fiction. This debut novel by an author who is familiar with the world of law and litigation is pregnant with many historical truisms that will enlighten readers to the horrors of the slave trade and how that subject is treated in contemporary life. Conklin’s story is a compelling treatment of two time periods and how the quest for truth is not always black and white. The story of Josephine’s life and trials is as palpable an example of this fact as any.