When Harriet is six years old, her mother passes away and from conversations she learns for the first time that she is a slave, a commodity who was only allowed to live in her parents' home for safekeeping. It is without a doubt a very harrowing book. Among other things, the author addresses the sexual abuse by some slave owners to whom the women were defenseless, which shocked the reading public at the time. She also denounces the 1850 U.S. Fugitive Slave Law, which forced northern states to return runaway slaves to their owners in the southern states. Gröls Classics - English Edition