Set against the backdrop of the idyllic Tawawa House resort in the free state of Ohio, new author Dolen Perkins-Valdez spins a sonorous narrative about the brutal complexities of life and the immorality of slavery leading up to the Civil War in 'Wench.'

The story unfolds through the eyes of Lizzie, Reenie, and Sweet, whose friendships develop during their summer visits to Tawawa. But things take a dramatic turn when a stranger enters the scene and challenges their very beliefs.

The mysterious red-maned woman, Mawu, encourages them to escape from slavery. With that suggestion, their lives take on a dramatic emotional shift as they begin to contemplate leaving behind everything they know and love. Then a fire tears through the resort, forcing them to "bear witness to the end of an era.''

"Lizzie ran the day over and over through her mind,'' Perkins-Valdez writes. "From the girl with the burned legs-the way the skin merely looked sunburned-to the oozing sores on Mawu's arms. From the dark smoke rising from the cottage to the empty feeling in her stomach that came with the knowledge that she was the only one of the four left.'' She later earns the name "Wench'' for reasons that come to light in the story.

'Wench' is a compelling read and a great debut novel for Perkins-Valdez, whose fiction and essays have appeared in 'The Kenyon Review,' 'The African American Review,' the 'North Carolina Literary Review' and the 'Richard Wright Newsletter.' A native of Memphis, she graduated from Harvard University. She splits her time between Washington, D.C, and Seattle.