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by: Jewell Parker Rhodes
List Price: $24.95Amazon.com's Price: $11.90 You Save: $13.05 (52%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 10 to 13 days
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780743410106
ISBN: 0743410106
Label: Washington Square Press
Manufacturer: Washington Square Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 384
Publication Date: September 01, 2003
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Sales Rank: 322309
Studio: Washington Square Press
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
WINNER OF THE 2003 PEN OAKLAND JOSEPHINE MILES AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING WRITING AND THE BLACK CAUCUS OF THE ALA LITERARY AWARD
Frederick Douglass, the great African-American abolitionist, was a man who cherished freedom in life and in love. In this ambitious work of historical fiction, Douglass' passions come vividly to life in the form of two women: Anna Murray Douglass and Ottilie Assing.
Douglass' Women is an imaginative rendering of these two women -- one black, the other white -- in Douglass' life. Anna, his wife, was a free woman of color who helped Douglass escape as a slave. She bore Douglass five children and provided him with a secure, loving home while he traveled the world with his message. Along the way, Douglass satisfied his intellectual needs in the company of Ottilie Assing, a white woman of German-Jewish descent, who would become his mistress for decades to come. How these two women find solidarity in their shared love for Douglass -- and his vision for a free America -- is at the heart of Jewell Parker Rhodes' extraordinary, epic novel.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Biracial Harlequin Romance
The book was an easy read but it consisted of a lot of bed hopping circa 1800s. Not my thing.
Rating:  - Refreshing change from the typical story lines we see today
I truly enjoyed this read. I loved the details the author used to describe the setting...this book was romantic, it made you cry, laugh, angry, wanna climb into the story and talk some since into Mr. Douglas' wife...just a really great read. I recommend this book to all. Such a refreshing switch from the typical: "my man left, I am angry now I must get revenge" story lines that crowd the market today. Nice to read embellished historical books. I wish there were more!
Rating: - Wonderful Book but I think
I'm Bipolar now...reason being...I have gone through so many different emotions reading this book. I have almost cried, became angry and laughed to keep from crying. I felt sorry for Anna, having been the one to finance Freddy's freedom only to get dumped on and ignored for the rest of her life. Except for the short visits which left her pregnant. I can actually see why she wouldn't want to learn to read, she wanted to at first because she admired Freddy, but later on she despised it. And then to ... Read More
Rating:  - Portraits of two believable women
Like all historical fiction, this book conveys the author's vision of what might have happened, not what actually happened. Hard historical details of the lives of Frederick Douglass's black wife and white mistress are patchy. However, the reader feels that Jewell Parker Rhodes is probably near the mark with her characterization of Douglass as an ego-driven man, handsome and charismatic, who knew how to charm women both in and out of bed. You feel the power of his first wife Anna, a black woman ... Read More
Rating: - A treasure, if not historically accurate
It all depends on what you want from a book. This is fiction. It is an imaginary journey through the author's delightful style into the minds of people we can never know. If you must have true history, there are some things concocted for the mere pleasure of story. BUT, if you want delicious reading, thoughtful insight, memorable characters, this book is a treasure. I found Anna to be not whiny but torn by her own sense of right, her desire for happiness and her acceptance of reality. Ottilie ... Read More
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