{"product_id":"the-life-and-times-of-hannah-crafts-the-true-story-of-the-bondwomans-narrative-9780062334732","title":"The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts: The True Story of the Bondwoman's Narrative","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWinner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFinalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA groundbreaking study of the first Black female novelist and her life as an enslaved woman, from the biographer who solved the mystery of her identity, with a foreword by Henry Louis Gates Jr.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 1857, a woman escaped enslavement on a North Carolina plantation and fled to a farm in New York. In hiding, she worked on a manuscript that would make her famous long after her death. The novel, \u003cem\u003eThe Bondwoman's Narrative\u003c\/em\u003e, was first published in 2002 to great acclaim, but the author's identity remained unknown. Over a decade later, Professor Gregg Hecimovich unraveled the mystery of the author's name and, in \u003cem\u003eThe Life and Times of Hannah Crafts\u003c\/em\u003e, he\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003efinally tells her story.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this remarkable biography, Hecimovich identifies the novelist as Hannah Bond \"Crafts.\" She was not only the first known Black woman to compose a novel but also an extraordinarily gifted artist who honed her literary skills in direct opposition to a system designed to deny her every measure of humanity. After escaping to New York, the author forged a new identity--as Hannah Crafts--to make sense of a life fractured by slavery.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHecimovich establishes the case for authorship of \u003cem\u003eThe Bondwoman's Narrative\u003c\/em\u003e by examining the lives of Hannah Crafts's friends and contemporaries, including the five enslaved women whose experiences form part of her narrative. By drawing on the lives of those she knew in slavery, Crafts summoned into her fiction people otherwise stolen from history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt once a detective story, a literary chase, and a cultural history, \u003cem\u003eThe Life and Times of Hannah Crafts\u003c\/em\u003e discovers a tale of love, friendship, betrayal, and violence set against the backdrop of America's slide into Civil War.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHecimovich, Gregg:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - GREGG HECIMOVICH is Professor and Chair of the Department of English at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina. He received his Ph.D. in English from Vanderbilt University. He is the author of four previous books and a wide range of articles that have appeared in leading scholarly journals, and is recipient of the UNC Board of Governors Distinguished Professor for Teaching Award, among other teaching awards. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with his wife, and their two daughters. ","brand":"Ecco Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50581187592466,"sku":"9780062334732","price":28.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_9006f3d2-a476-4f7c-9c5f-2bcf525d277a.jpg?v=1737080124","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-life-and-times-of-hannah-crafts-the-true-story-of-the-bondwomans-narrative-9780062334732","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}