The Known World

The Known World
by Edward P. Jones

4 of 5

The Known World was hard for me to get into at first, and I can't honestly say I loved it, but it is a really well written book that tells an engaging story on a subject that I know almost nothing about: that of free blacks who owned black slaves befor the Civil War. A wealth of richly drawn characters populate The Known World. At first it is hard to keep them all straight, but after I quit trying so hard to do so, the book was a lot easier to read. The story starts with Augustus Townsend buying his way out of slavery from his master, William Robbins. Augustus then buys his wife, Mildred, from Robbins, and later they buy there son Henry. Henry's life has been molded by Robbins to such a degree, however, that--much to his parents dismay--Henry buys a slave as soon as he has enough money. When Henry dies and his plantation and slaves go to his wife, Caldonia, who is strongly influenced by her mother, life gets pretty interesting on the plantation, and across the county.