I THOUGHT MY SOUL WOULD RISE AND FLY The Diary of Patsy, a Freed Girl, Mars Bluff, South Carolina, 1865

The life of a black girl during the period of Reconstruction is depicted through the thoughts, fears, and observations recorded by Patsy in her secret diary. From the giggles of her high spirits to her softer tones when she mentions the man she has a crush on to her sadness and fear as so many of her "family" leave the plantation, Sisi Johnson perfectly nuances Patsy's hidden emotional life and mirrors her day-to-day existence as the world she knows falls apart all around her. Hope and excitement build, and are dashed, as so many of the promises that are made during Reconstruction are never brought to fruition. What, Patsy wonders, does freedom mean in a South left shattered by the Civil War? W.L.S. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 07]