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The Wedding Gift


Based on real events, in which a man gifts his black daughter to his white ...
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Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

Created: 09/18/13

Replies: 27

Posted Sep. 18, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert

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Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?


Posted Sep. 22, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
cynthiaa

Join Date: 04/14/11

Posts: 112

RE: Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

That was a surprise to me. There were quite a few parts in the book that I was sure showed me what was coming, but I was very surprised at how the story turned out. I think that was my favorite part of the book. Otherwise it would have been one more book about the time of slavery in the US.


Posted Sep. 22, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
karenrn

Join Date: 08/29/13

Posts: 102

RE: Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

No, I didn't see that coming at all. I was surprised I never thought she was so vengeful.


Posted Sep. 22, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
terriej

Join Date: 07/28/11

Posts: 422

RE: Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

I did not see that coming.


Posted Sep. 22, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
hazeyr

Join Date: 03/24/12

Posts: 19

RE: Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

The revelations certainly made the book much more memorable.


Posted Sep. 22, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
hazeyr

Join Date: 03/24/12

Posts: 19

RE: Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

I was completely blindsided by the revelations at the end of the book. This was a good book, but a little slow. It could have been a much better book if there was more foreshadowing of the drama to come.


Posted Sep. 22, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
heylaydee

Join Date: 07/11/13

Posts: 8

RE: Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

I didn't see it coming either. Loved it!


Posted Sep. 22, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
kathym

Join Date: 09/14/11

Posts: 12

RE: Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

I certainly did not see that coming. I thought that part was great.


Posted Sep. 23, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
irisf

Join Date: 01/16/12

Posts: 136

RE: Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

I was completely shocked. I didn't see it coming but it made perfect sense. The only clue would have been her absolute determination to end her pregnancy. She did so without any remorse as she had only one goal in life. That was the only clue to her true nature. In every other way she appeared to be nothing short of a devoted daughter, sister, aunt and wife.


Posted Sep. 23, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
kimk

Join Date: 10/16/10

Posts: 889

RE: Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

No - When she started to confess I thought it would just be about the abortion, and was shocked when she went on to talk about the other things she'd done. In retrospect I felt like I should have seen the revelations coming, but I sure didn't. I was actually proud of Sarah - "Good for you," I thought. The only thing that would have been better would have been having the people on whom she exacted revenge know about it.


Posted Sep. 23, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Beth350

Join Date: 04/15/11

Posts: 89

RE: Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

I had guessed that she was probably an instigator in Cornelius's rather sudden illness and demise. I did not catch that Isaac was the baby's father or that she had written bad paperwork for him. The fact that Isaac was the father made everyone else's actions at the birth more logical, but I didn't make the connection.


Posted Sep. 23, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
ediem

Join Date: 03/14/12

Posts: 5

RE: Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

I was very surprised at the ending. Honestly, I was impressed with how brave she was in an impossible situation. Not that I'm condoning murder, but you have to think back then it must have been a difficult way to live.


Posted Sep. 23, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
jillf

Join Date: 07/30/13

Posts: 22

RE: Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

I too was very surprised by the ending, if anything, I thought that she might have had something to do with Cornelius' death because of the way the author referred to her familiarity with herbal "remedies" throughout the book. Her revenge on Isaac and the fact that he was the baby's father caught me totally off-guard.


Posted Sep. 23, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Navy Mom

Join Date: 04/12/12

Posts: 294

RE: Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

I was surprised at the ending, it seemed a little too easy to wrap everything up. I thought her revenge on Isaac was out of character since he was a slave and I thought she would be more forgiving about that, but her taking care of Cornelius could have been possible. And the idea that Clarissa would be able to pull of the baby as white was shocking. If Clarissa was that conniving, why didn't she try to get away and get Sarah to help her. The whole thing was too mixed up. The more I think about it, the less I like the book.


Posted Sep. 23, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
rosemarys

Join Date: 05/29/11

Posts: 43

RE: Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

I knew Isaac had to be mixed up with Clarissa and was the baby's biological father, but didn't expect that Sarah was responsible for Cornelius' death.


Posted Sep. 23, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Windsong

Join Date: 05/07/13

Posts: 105

RE: Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

I was completely surprised that she poisoned Cornelius. Was the paper that Theodora found on his desk and burned the document the same document to which Sarah referred that revoked the freedom that Cornelius promised to Emmeline? I thought everyone's reaction to the birth was because it was a full term baby and not a premature one. The fact that it it was not white was a huge surprise. It does explain why Cornelius was so callous toward her and refused to call a doctor. Sarah's decision to end her pregnancy because it interfered with her plans to escape shows her determination, but I never saw wicked revenge as one of her character traits.


Posted Sep. 24, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
rosemarys

Join Date: 05/29/11

Posts: 43

RE: Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

I do agree, Windsong, the development of Sarah's character never led me to believe she would be capable of murder.


Posted Sep. 26, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Suzanne

Join Date: 04/21/11

Posts: 281

RE: Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

I was surprised she was so vengeful with Isaac. And I had no idea she did a trick on Cornelius. The last two paragraphs are possibly the best of the book.


Posted Sep. 27, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
lynneb

Join Date: 08/23/11

Posts: 118

RE: Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

I guess I am so naive that I didn't guess any relationship between Clarissa and Isaac. No wonder Julius turned away the baby. I at first thought that might be what they saw but it was not mentioned that there were any black features so I put the thought aside. Then I do remember the part about Sarah having to take away some papers from the desk of Cornelius right before she left but I had no ideas about the fact that she had taken his change of will. Very surprising developments at the end but I certainly think Sarah was justified in her choices.


Posted Sep. 27, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
sharons

Join Date: 08/11/13

Posts: 5

RE: Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

I had no idea about Clarissa and Isaac I thought Clarissa had been seeing Mr.Evans on the sly and got pregnant. I never realized just how much hatred Sarah had for Cornelius but she had heard the many times that he physically hit Miss Theodora,treated her mother and in the end Clarissa died because Cornelius would not send for a doctor so to make sure these things would never happen again Sarah murdered him, but I did not see it coming but made for a great ending !!!


Posted Sep. 28, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Margie

Join Date: 02/16/12

Posts: 3

RE: Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

The book continued to suprise me until the very end. I had no idea that Sarah masterminded the events.


Posted Sep. 29, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Lifeski

Join Date: 05/19/11

Posts: 6

RE: Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

No I did not see it coming. Sarah was a very bright and resourceful woman but I had no idea she was capable of the things she did. I never really saw that side of her character.


Posted Sep. 29, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
leew

Join Date: 07/18/13

Posts: 11

RE: Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

I was so completely surprised by the ending, I had to go back and read the ending again. I did not suspect that Clarissa and Isaac had a relationship at all. The book was made even better by the ending!


Posted Sep. 29, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
bookgal

Join Date: 09/29/13

Posts: 2

RE: Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

I had no clue that Sarah had acted in the manner she did. I had to reread the section twice to make sure i wasn't missing something. I agree that this behavior made her more real.


Posted Sep. 29, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
dianem

Join Date: 10/25/12

Posts: 65

RE: Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

The ending took me completely by surprise but right from the beginning I saw the strength in Sarah in her reactions to things done to her mother and sister. The book was based on a true story and I would really like to know the story behind it.


Posted Oct. 06, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
kathygant

Join Date: 04/21/11

Posts: 14

RE: Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

No, I did not see that coming at all. The author left a few clues. One was Sarah's determination to end her pregnancy. That is not natural. However, on the other had, she was determined to be free.


Posted Oct. 10, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
jeann

Join Date: 11/14/11

Posts: 56

RE: Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

I had no idea what about to be revealed at the end of the book. I assumed that Mr. Evans was the baby's father. The extreme reaction of the Grandmother and Grandfather then made sense. Until the father was revealed at the end of the book, I thought the Grandmother was hysterical over seeing her daughter deliver her baby early when it was obviously a full term baby. Re Cornelius- Sarah did say that she would get even- and Cornelius did get his just desserts!!


Posted Nov. 23, 2013 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
thewanderingjew

Join Date: 07/28/11

Posts: 5

RE: Had you already guessed that Sarah was responsible for the acts she admits to?

That never even crossed my mind. I was surprised that someone so abused would so abuse another, even one who had been so disloyal.


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