Born in the Briar Patch

By Bev Clarke

The pretty young housemaid Nellie Peterkin catches the eye of the plantation owner John Bottomsley and at the age of fourteen becomes his mistress. Shortly after she finds out she is pregnant, his... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1439232474
• ISBN13: 9781439232477
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: BookSurge Publishing
• Length: 476 Pages
• Weight: 1.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 1.1" x 5.3"

Customer Reviews

Excellent reading!

I highly recommend Bev Clarke's "Born in the Briar Patch" for anyone seeking to escape into a wonderful, intriguing and often very touching story of triumph over the hard knocks in life and kindness of the soul prevailing through all of the twists and turns that make this piece of literature a true reflection of real life. All of the characters, each with a dynamic and unique personality, will spring to life before your very eyes as your imagination is triggered and indeed nurtured through Clarke's brilliant and very clever writing. The suspense of the story will keep the reader turning page after page in an almost frantic effort to guess how it will all unfold next. They say that literature is life and it will be easy to forget that you are reading fiction as Clarke does an amazing job of carrying the reader through a world of laughter and tears, happiness and sadness and indeed all of the ups and downs that make life what it is. You will not want to put this outstanding story down for a moment!

A Must Read!

The title of Bev Clarke's book "Born in the Briar Patch" I found very interesting and I was curious to learn more about what constitutes a Briar Patch. From the very first paragraph, I was hooked. "The fiery evening sun was setting as the group of bare-footed plantation workers struggled home from a hard day in the fields...with fatigue etched across their faces....shoulders moving to the rhythm of their bodies". Brilliant! Throughout the book, the author cleverly writes in such a way, the reader can visualize the characters while feeling their emotion, pain, passion and joy, especially during this period of history. The day to day struggles each character faces, again, captured beautifully. The main character Nellie Peterkin is a strong woman, endures the unspeakable, survives struggle after struggle, makes unbelievable sacrifices, and yet manages to build a commendable life worth living, provide hope to others & escape the Briar Patch. The book is a must read. I'm curious how long before we see Nelli Peterkin and accompanying characters appear on the big screen at the Toronto Film Festival.

RBC employee review

This is the second book written by Bev Clarke that I have read with great pleasure.Bev has a talent for capturing your interest as the novel flows smoothly from scene to scene.I would highly recommended this book to all my friends and family as a great read and a good history of early life in the Carribean.

Told as it was in days of "Master and Slaves"

Read this book in 5 days. Beautifully written informative and it held my interest from beginning to end- could not put it down. The characters came alive and couldn't be portrayed any better. Although fictional, it truly depicts how slaves lived , suffered and made the best of mostly hard times. I was happy to know that Emily's husband stuck by his wife to the end. "The wise old owl" Miss Ella really stood out-our young people today cold use a few like her in they lives. It was really a treat reading this book. When is part B coming? Evvie

Nostalgic for the Caribbean.

I love a good book and read ALL types of books. I loved this book! This story is so appropriate to so many different people at different times in history. There is a great story being told here of men and women who had no choice for it was the 'norm' of the time. It made me smile and laugh. The characters we can ALL relate to because chances are we know each character in a family member or acquaintance! My heart breaks for poor Nellie, representing all the Nellies of the world. The author made me nostalgic for all things Caribbean. This book is fiction (?)but can easily be non-fiction. Great read for those who know what a briar patch is and for those who want to know what it is! This would also be appropriate for reading lists of schools.