Book Club: The House Girl

Join VMHC Education and the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia’s Education Coordinator, Trinity Swift, in an afternoon book club conversation about The House Girl by Tara Conklin.

About the Book:  Virginia, 1852. Seventeen-year-old Josephine Bell decides to run from the failing tobacco farm where she is a slave and nurse to her ailing mistress, the aspiring artist Lu Anne Bell.

New York City, 2004. Lina Sparrow, an ambitious first-year associate in an elite law firm, is given a difficult, highly sensitive assignment that could make her career: she must find the "perfect plaintiff" to lead a historic class-action lawsuit worth trillions of dollars in reparations for descendants of American slaves.

It is through her father, the renowned artist Oscar Sparrow, that Lina discovers Josephine Bell and a controversy roiling the art world: are the iconic paintings long ascribed to Lu Anne Bell really the work of her house slave, Josephine? A descendant of Josephine's would be the perfect face for the reparations lawsuit - if Lina can find one. While following the runaway girl's faint trail through old letters and plantation records, Lina finds herself questioning her own family history and the secrets that her father has never revealed: How did Lina's mother die? And why will he never speak about her?

Public FAQs:

• Do I need to read the book before book club?
  • We strongly recommend reading the book (at least partially) before the book club, so that you can participate in the discussion – and so the details won’t be spoiled!
• Where can I buy the book?
  • You can purchase the book online, in a local bookstore, or borrow it from your local library!
• Is this program virtual or in-person?
  • This program is in-person.

Program Notes:

• This event will take place in Halsey Family Hall.
• You will need to purchase a museum admission ticket if you would like to walk through the museum before or after.
• This program is free, but registration is required.