• Overview of the entire book
• Introduction to the important people in the book
• Summary and analysis of all the chapters in the book
• Key Takeaways of the book
• A Reader’s Perspective
This is the story of the slave, Mattie, and the little girl in her care, Elizabeth Wainwright, as well as the love they had for each other.
Mattie, a field slave who works for the Wainwright family in Virginia, is brought in to be a house slave working as a wet nurse. She is to care for newborn, Elizabeth Wainwright, daughter of Ann Wainwright. She must leave behind her own child, Samuel, in the care of her grandfather, Poppy, and Rebecca, another slave who is also nursing a baby of her own at the time.
Two days after Elizabeth’s birth, Mrs. Gray, the housekeeper, gives Mattie more instructions on her duties in the house. She tells her that Mrs. Wainwright is well enough to see the baby now, and Mattie is to take her to see her. Ann Wainwright, as a new mother, is nervous about handling the baby. When she holds Elizabeth and realizes the baby is hungry, she immediately gives her over to Mattie to be nursed...
