What readers think of The House Girl, plus links to write your own review.

The House Girl is a compelling story that interweaves two women from different eras and races. Making the character of Josephine a painter was a fascinating twist on the slavery story – as was having her paintings co-opted by her owner. The opposing modern day story with Lina as an attorney was also a insightful look into the legal world of reparation lawsuits. The twists and turns at the end brought the story full circle and I guess the only thing that I wish is that there was more of a conclusive ending.

'The House Girl' takes place in two time periods, 2004 and 1852, and explores a legal case for reparations for slavery. The book took several chapters to really catch my interest as it laid out the foundation of the story. As the story progressed, however, my curiosity increased and I was unable to put the book down until I finished it.

The chapters smoothly flowed back and forth between the time periods, focusing on the staid young lawyer who was researching the reparations case in 2004 and the young slave girl in 1852. It wove together art and family secrets that occurred in both time periods, and both protagonists had to find their own identities. This was a very unique approach to the search for truth, and I enjoyed it very much. I would recommend this to book clubs!

While the subject is interesting I found the weaving in of the sub-plots disjointed and not as developed as they could have been. As a member of a book club, I do not think book clubs would enjoy having this book for discussion. I think there were to many characters in the book, all who could have been developed more.

This is a good average book with the parallel stories of Josephine Bell, a slave in 1852 Virginia and Lina Sparrow, an attorney working on a slavery class action case in 2004 New York. I could not connect with Lina's story, sometimes borderline Harlequin romance type of story, and honestly could not have care less. I would have been a great book if the author based her story on Josephine and only Josephine and people gravitating around her. Too many of characters stories were undeveloped and let me guessing.