As a history teacher, I've heard of Sarah Grimke, and I teach vaguely her accomplishments in the abolitionist and women's rights movements, but only in the barest details. I read to students the quote about men kindly removing their feet from the necks of women.

But that's all I knew.

This book is a lovely work of historical fiction based off of the interconnected lives of two sets of sisters; one privileged and slaveholding and white, the other oppressed and enslaved and black. Sarah and Angelina Grimke will give up a good deal of their privilege and much more in the pursuit of racial equality (not merely abolition of slavery) and for women's rights. But the story isn't nearly as much about them as it is about their mother's slaves, Handful and Sky.

On her eleventh birthday, Sarah was gifted a slave named Hetty to be her waiting maid. Not much is known about her historically other than that Sarah taught her to read and they were both punished gravely as a result. Kidd has taken the real character of the largely unknown Hetty and given her life, voice, and a name of her own as Handful.

This story of four courageous women who all face loss and tough choices will inspire you to learn more about the real Grimke sisters as well as about Harriet Powers (upon whom Handful's mother is based).

As far as storytelling goes, this book is nearly excellent. Handful's chapters are solid five star reads. Some of Sarah's chapters are poignant, but others fall rather flat, and I didn't have quite the emotional connection with her in the last half of the book as I did with the first. I felt events were perhaps told more than they were shown to us as readers. There was a massive potential for emotion in some of Sarah's later events in this book, but their potential wasn't fully explored.

Overall, I recommend anyone interested in equal rights movements or the agency of the oppressed as human beings should read this book. Anyone who loves historical fiction will find this to be an engrossing read.