Summary and Reviews of The Secrets of Mary Bowser by Lois Leveen

Prologue

Mama was always so busy. Busy tending to Old Master Van Lew and Mistress Van Lew, Young Master John, Miss Bet. But she was never too busy to riddle me. She said it was the first kind of learning she could give me, and the most important, too. Be alert, Mama meant. See the world around you. Find what you seek, because it's already there.

"I spy with my little eye, where the bird goes when he doesn't fly," Mama said one mid-day, her words floating on the Richmond heat as we carried empty cookpots through the yard to the kitchen. I sing-songed the riddle to myself, eyes half closed against the bright Virginia sun. What could she mean, with no birds in sight? Then I spotted it, set in the crook of the big dogwood.

"Oh, Mama, a bird's nest!"

But Mama frowned. "I made a rhyme to riddle you, Mary El. You're old enough to rhyme me back your answer."

Whenever Mama said you're old enough, it meant something new was coming. Something hard I had to do, no matter...

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. The novel opens with two epigrams, one from Ralph Waldo Emerson and the other from Maria Stewart. What specific aspects of Mary's life confirm Emerson's belief that all of history is in one person, and that each person's life reflects national crises? Stewart, who was herself a black abolitionist, wondered if a woman might be the one to end slavery. In what ways does being female allow Mary and Bet to take on their great roles in history?
   


2. Often when we think of slavery, we think of plantations. How does slavery in Richmond differ from plantation slavery? How is it similar? What did you find most surprising about the lives of slaves and of free blacks in Richmond?
   


3. Though both of Mary's parents were born in slavery, their experiences ...