Dr. Marlen Suyapa Bodden released her debut novel The Wedding Gift on March 31, 2015 through Thomas Dunne Books & St. Martin’s Press.
Through the use of excellent prose and inspired storytelling, Bodden bases her fictional tale on a real court case where a slave owner sued his wife and won, leaving the wife’s land and young female slave as his property.
The Wedding Gift follows the lives of Theodora Allen and Sarah, the daughter of a slave and Theodora’s husband Cornelius. While Sarah suffers the life of a slave who thirsts for knowledge and freedom, Theadora suffers the abuses of her husband and is without rights under her own roof. Though life as a slave and as a Caucasian slave owner seem like two extremely different experiences, Bodden opens our eyes to the similarities between the two during the late 1800s in Talladega, Alabama.
There are several forms of abuse throughout The Wedding Gift as well as sharp prose that make human rights, gender inequality, and –obviously-racism stand out as pronounced themes. At one point, Bodden relates a particularly graphic scene that at first shocks the reader before leaving them to consider the importance of voicing some of the tamer events that still occur to women today.
I give The Wedding Gift 5/5 stars for its amazing plot and genuine characters and also for the critical view from a woman’s perspective. There are many forms of freedom and Bodden allows variations of it to permeate the pages while also withholding just enough information to keep her readers hungry for more. In the conclusion of the novel, Bodden reveals the shocking confirmations of her readers’ suspicions and alters the way we see one of the characters. The revelations and acceptance of these incidents close the novel in such a way that it would be a terrible injustice not to rate it 5/5. The pacing and tone are consistent throughout the book, the characters are believable, and the suspenseful and frightening events leave The Wedding Gift a book to remember.
Bodden opens the doorway for her readers to look into the atrocities of the past so that in the future we can do what we can to help eradicate such ignorance and abuse. For more information on modern-day anti-slavery, please visit the American Anti-Slavery Group, Anti-Slavery International, International Justice Mission, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, or the .
According to her website, Dr. Marlen Suyapa Bodden has over two decades of law experience pertaining to human rights and trafficking issues and is also an export on modern day slavery, unlawful policing, human rights abuse, and low wages for immigrant and American workers. To learn more about Dr. Marlen Suyapa Bodden, you can follow her on Facebook or twitter.