Sabra Waldfogel Shifts a Novelist Perspective on American History

The Shift With Skip

Sabra Waldfogel grew up far from the South in Minneapolis. She studied history at Harvard University and received her Ph.D. in American History from the University of Minnesota. She has worked as a technical writer and has written about historic architecture for Old House Journal and Arts and Crafts Homes. Her short story "Yemaya” was recently published in Sixfold's January 2014 issue. Slave and Sister is her first novel. Will they be rivals or allies? The age-old struggle between sisters is skillfully brought to life in Slave and Sister, by Sabra Waldfogel. In the antebellum South, relations between slaves and their owners are conflicted enough; if there are blood ties, the tension can become a lethal storm. It was common in the antebellum South to raise a slave alongside the heir. But it was a surprise to both Adelaide and Rachel to discover they shared the same father. In a mesmerizing tale marked by impeccable historical accuracy, we begin by learning that scouts for General Sherman stumble upon a plantation that's anything but ordinary: it flies the Union flag and the freed slaves can read and write, and work the former plantation themselves.