“Wench” by Dolen Perkins-Valdez. Harper Collins. 306 pages. $15.The meaning of words may change over time but in some cases, the weight of dominance, the sharp edge of cruelty and the demeaning cut of subservience and sexual command is unmistakable regardless of the era.
To use such a term as a book title is a bold move that calls out for a powerful story to back it up. Dolen Perkins-Valdez rises to this challenge with her first novel, “Wench.”
Most Americans now know that many slave holders also held slave mistresses, and the word wench serves as remnant of both the language of the day and of the role they played in the masters’ realm.
What is less known is that in the summers of 1852 though 1855, the Tawawa Resort near Xenia, Ohio, served as a host for master-mistress pairs looking for a summer retreat.
The resort ultimately closed when Northern visitors refused to visit due to these Southern guests. A decade later, it was purchased by the African Methodist Episcopal Church, which used the land to found the distinguished HBCU Wilberforce University.