Yellow Wife

Pheby Delores Brown is the protagonist and first-person narrator of Yellow Wife. She is the daughter of Ruth Brown and Jacob Bell. Born on the Bell Plantation, Pheby lives a life between two worlds. She is held in higher regard than the other enslaved people on the plantation. She is not beaten and is well-fed. The clothes she wears are of higher quality. Jacob’s sister Sally teaches her to read, write, and play piano. Her very education is a rejection of the system that seeks to sever her from knowledge and self-worth. This foundation gives Pheby the strength and self-love she needs to endure immeasurable heartache and abuse.

Everything in Pheby’s life reminds her that she is enslaved. She cannot be with the man she loves, and her father continuously evades discussing her escape to the North. She is sent away to be punished for helping Essex escape even though there is no proof. She is forced into sex work with jailer Rubin Lapier, and she worries every day that her children will be taken from her. And yet in spite of this, Pheby exhibits resilience, wisdom, and a deep sense of protection toward others.

Pheby remembers walking in on her mother and Jacob being intimate in her mother’s room.