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A Rediscovered African American Novel
by Julia C. Collins
In 1865, The Christian Recorder, the national newspaper of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, serialized The Curse of Caste; or The Slave Bride, a novel written by Mrs. Julia C. Collins, an African American woman living in the small town of Williamsport, Pennsylvania. It had been forgotten in the archives until its recent discovery, and is published now for the first time in book form.
"The editors provide a wealth of secondary material, but it's not necessary for readers to have a ball with this utterly wild novel." - PW starred review.
This information about The Curse of Caste; or The Slave Bride was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
This recently rediscovered work is considered to be the first serialized novel by an African American woman, and the first non-autobiographical novel to be authored by a historically verified African American woman, thus the publishers are claiming that it supersedes former claimants such as Harriet Wilson (Our Nig) and Hannah Crafts (The Bondswoman's Narrative). Julia Collins died of tuberculosis in 1865, without concluding her novel, so the editors have composed an ending that they believe in keeping with the work. Simultaneous release in hardcover and paperback.
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