Clotel, Or, the President's Daughter

At a slave auction, a beautiful teenage girl, her sister, and her mother are sold as William Wells Brown's 1853 novel Clotel begins. In making his title character the daughter of Thomas Jefferson, Brown takes advantage of a scandalous and - until recently - unconfirmed rumor. Clotel's new owner falls in love with her, gets her pregnant, seems to promise marriage - then sells her. A fast-paced and harrowing tale of slavery and freedom, and of the hypocrisies of a nation founded on democratic principles, Clotel is more than a sensationalist novel. It is a founding text of the African American novelistic tradition, a brilliantly composed and richly detailed exploration of human relations in a new world.