Letters From A Slave Boy

Lyons, Mary E. Letters From A Slave Boy.

Years ago, Mary E. Lyons wrote a fictionalized account of Harriet Jacobs’ life. Now she has returned with a fictionalized account of Joseph Jacobs, Harriet’s son. The books do overlap quite a bit. But it is nice to read the story from a different perspective. This account is also told through letters. Although like I’ve said before, they really read like diary entries since none of them could ever have been mailed. This book tells of his life as a slave, his escape from slavery, his life in Massachusetts and New York, his life as a sailor on a whaling vessel, and his unsuccessful attempts to strike gold both in California and Australia. This book is more fictionalized than the first. We simply don’t know that much about his life--especially his later life. But the story is interesting enough I suppose. It’s full of hardships, and full of adventures.