Indigo
Show Notes
Indigo by Beverly Jenkins follows Hester Wyatt, a conductor on the Michigan Underground Railroad. Hester’s hands are marked by indigo, a remnant from her days as an enslaved person on an indigo plantation. When she hides the notorious Black Daniel as he recovers from injuries, he challenges her. Hester finds the man aggravating and attractive in equal measure. As he pushes for a relationship, Hester’s not sure she can make the jump. Her father sold himself into slavery to be with her mother, so to Hester, love is a dangerous thing. Beverly Jenkins famously leans on the historical part of historical romances. She’s written 18th and 19th century stories set in various cities and states in America.
Books Referenced
Passion by Lisa Valdez
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Forbidden by Beverly Jenkins
Ravishing the Heiress by Sherry Thomas
Works Cited:
“Bury Me in a Free Land” by Francis E. Watkins
Writer’s Digest Interview with Beverly Jenkins 2021
The Dark History of Indigo, Slavery’s Other Cash Crop
Transcript
Beth
Welcome to Reformed Rakes, a historical romance podcast that's too pragmatic to take this charming man seriously. I'm Beth, and I'm on Booktok under the name Bethhaymondreads.
Chels
My name is Chels. I'm the writer of the romance, Substack the LooseCravat, a romance book collector and book talker under the username Chels_ebooks.
Emma
I'm Emma, a library and writing about justice and romance of the Substack Restorative Romance.
Beth
Today, we'll be talking about Indigo by Beverly Jenkins. In an interview for the Writers Digest in 2021, Jenkins said, "I think women in general, especially women of color, have had to be strong in order to deal with the times and what they faced. The Lemons that America has given people of color to try and make it as palatable a batch of lemonade as they could. I don't do weak women, and I don't think my readers want to read about weak women. I think people who have not experienced romance in the last 15, 20 years would be very surprised at the feminism and the models that these women portray." Hester definitely fits this mold. Growing up working on an Indigo plantation, Hester's aunt hires people to find her lost niece. She now lives in Whitaker, Michigan, and is part of the Underground Railroad. Her life changes forever when an injured man, known as the Black Daniel, hides out in her home while he recovers. Jenkins leans heavily on the historical part of historical romance in what she calls "edutainment." Her first novel, Night Song, came out in 1994 and featured a bibliography of sources. Jenkins explores a history and setting in ways few authors currently are.
Beth
She's written 18th and 19th century stories set in various cities and states in America. Jenkins doesn't shy away from the slavery, racism and sexism prevalent in the past and weaves together stories that acknowledge these systems while still giving her characters a happily ever after. Her soon worthy romance is often feature a strong, pragmatic woman and an equally strong man who wants to take care of her. In a world full of Regency romances featuring the ton, Jenkins tells stories about characters of all classes and backgrounds.
Beth
Okay, so what was your first Beverly Jenkins you read?
Emma
I read Forbidden for our taxonomy of rakes episode, so this is my second one.
Chels
Yeah, I don't remember what my first Beverly Jenkins book was. I think it might have been Topaz, which is also my favorite of Beverly Jenkins. I don't have any way to connect those two, except for it is my first and still my favorite. I think sometimes I just go by covers.
Beth
I think I read Nighthawk, first, but I don't know why I picked it up or why I brought it into my orbit. I love Nighthawk. Yeah, it just sounded like a really interesting plot. I think that's what compelled me to pick it up.
Chels
Yeah, Nighthawk has some of my favorite side characters. I remember that really well. Also, Vivid, too. It's a thing that comes up a lot.
Beth
It was in Nighthawk, I learned that the reason Wyoming was the first to give women the vote is because they were trying to entice women to move to that state. They needed more women in there. So yeah, fun fact for our listeners, we had a lot of fun reading this book. So to get everyone on the same page, I will do a semi-quick plot summary.
Beth
Hester's house is a station on the Underground Rail Road for people seeking freedom from slavery. Set in Michigan, many people stop at Hester's house before going all the way to Canada. Like I mentioned, our story starts when Hester takes in a notorious conductor known as the Black Daniel. His injuries need time to mend and Hester's neighbor, Bea, patches him up. Hester takes care of him for the next week, a little ruffled by his curt manner. The Black Daniel notices Hester's hand had been died indigo. He realizes she likely had been enslaved, working on one of the few remaining indigo plantations on the sea islands of South Carolina. Slave catchers interrupt a meeting at the Lady's Abolition Circle at Hester's house. We meet Mr. Shoe, a truly despicable man, as he questions the whereabouts of the Black Daniel.
Beth
He accuses Hester of not owning the land she actually owns, then mocks her explanation of how her great-grandfather had received the land as payment for fighting in the war of independence. He searches the house but can't find anything since the house has been designed for hiding people. The next day, Hester speaks with the Black Daniel and discovers his real name, Galen. They spar, and Hester even says at one point, "I would love to debate the merits of your argument, but there are none, so I will take my leave." They talk some more, where Hester shares her aunt, Catherine, who raised her, had passed away, and her fiancé, Forster, is in England until the spring. They don't love each other, but still plan on marrying. Hester's parents died when she was a small child. Her father sold himself into slavery to be with her mother. Her aunt, Catherine, spent many years looking for Hester, and her people rescued her from the Indigo plantation when she was nine. Galen suspects a traitor in their midst, but Hester says she trusts everyone in Whitaker. Galen shares that six men had ambushed him when he was traveling with a family, escaping from Georgia to save everyone, he reveals his identity, allowing time for the family to escape.
Beth
Galen is saved by some luck, since the Wesleyites, a chaotic force on the Underground Railroad, rescued him. They get closer and Hester shows him all the hidden panels in the house that serve as either escapes or places to hide. I should also make a note here about the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. This law required the government to help slave owners control enslaved people and denied that African Americans were actual US citizens. This law denied a fugitive enslaved person the right to testify for themselves and a trial by jury. The law also penalized anyone who assisted or harbored an escaped enslaved person. Federal marshals who refused to comply with enforcing the law could be fined $1,000. Special commissions had concurrent jurisdiction with US courts enforcing this act and were so widely corrupt, of the 343 people who appeared before them, 332 were forced back into slavery. Northern states prohibited officials from returning enslaved people to the south.
Beth
Hester and Galen get physically closer as well as relating more of their respective histories. Hester discloses where her free papers are and that the sheriff has a copy as well. They go to the river and Galen convincing Hester to make mud pie with him.
Beth
After they get home, he walks in on her bathing and they make out. After they go to sleep, Galen enters her room with another man, Raymond, to tell her goodbye, and that when they meet again, she needs to pretend they've never met. Six months and Hester sells some land to a man named Andre on behalf of his employer, who is Galen. Hester's fiancé, Foster, returns and she picks him up at the train station, only to discover he's gotten married. He introduces his wife, Janine, and while Hester is humiliated, she's kind to Janine. After meeting Janine, she wonders what Janine and Foster talk about, since Janine seems uninter interested in philosophy and politics, things Foster cares about. On the way home, they get stuck and Galen rescues them, takes them home and promises to pick up Hester's wagon and meal and have them brought to her the following day. All four of them go out for dinner, and afterwards, Galen says he's staying in town. Hester really likes him, but worries he'll grow bored of her and his family walked down on her since they're wealthy and she's not. Hester shows up at Galen's house at night by his invitation.
Beth
She meets John Brown and some other abolitionists and Galen makes her promise if she ever needs help to reach out to him or any of the other men. They make out some more. Galen acknowledges to his servant, who is more like a mom that Hester has turned inside out. He heads out to Detroit to meet with family and his terrible grandmother who treats everyone like dirt. Everyone in the family seems Galen visits the mistress when he disappears from April to October. No one knows he's the Black Daniel, and that he's aiding people's escape from slavery. Galen and Hester ran into each other in Detroit. He proposes to her in a carriage and she brushes it off. Later Hester reflects on how she doesn't want to be at the mercy of love the way her father was. Besides, it's here she discovers how wealthy Galen is, like how truly wealthy he is. After returning home, Galen throws a party for everyone in Whitaker. Everyone notices how Galen stares at Hester, and he comes to her house afterwards. They make out again, and he proposes again, and she says, No, there's just a lot of making out.
Beth
A couple, the Blackburns, are captured on their way north. Shoe, the slave catcher, is headed back into town to take them south. Hester and others make plans that involves getting them out of jail and Hester staying in jail in Mrs. Blackburn's place. After the sheriff discovers Hester, he says she'll need a bond to get out. Plot happens and Galen offers up money for Hester's bond. Hester stays the night. The next day, they stop by Foster's place for something and discover B's son, Lemeul, having sex with Janine. Janine threatens to smear Hester's reputation, and Hester says she won't tell Foster. Galen assures her that Foster will find her out eventually. That night, Hester shows up at Galen's house and they have sex. Galen says she has to marry him now, and she says his family will never accept her. Galen accuses her of being afraid. She goes home in the morning to find Foster waiting for her. He says Janine said she discovered Hester and Galen "fornicating" in the schoolhouse. More rumors swirl and Galen basically strong arms Hester into marrying him when they go to church that Sunday. He spoils her a lot with clothes and nice stuff.
Beth
They lived their marriage, for many pages. Galen leaves to help some people who need to escape. Hester learns more about Galen's family history and how his grandmother disapproved of his mother marrying a darker-skinned man. His grandmother dies, so they go to Detroit for the funeral. Hester meets Jeanette, Galen's intended. She's kind to Hester, who says she and Galen would have never suited and they were more like siblings. They return home after the funeral. She threatens Hester and steals her free papers and trashes her house. Everyone agrees no one should leave Hester unaccompanied. Bea confesses to being the traitor in the community by trading information about her neighbors to find out the whereabouts of her children who were still enslaved. Janine and Foster find Hester one day to tell her Galen's been arrested, so Hester and Raymond split up. Hester hops into a carriage with Janine and Foster. When Janine points a gun at Hester. She relates how she never loved Foster and used him to get to Lemuel, who she really loved. She has promised her more money once she's turned in Hester. Foster didn't know any of this. Shoe catches up to them, gives Janine barely any of the money he promised her, and then kidnaps Hester.
Beth
Of course, Galen rescues her, and they go home where Galen continues to spoil her, presumably for the rest of her life.
Beth
That last paragraph just drops off abruptly, but I think that's how it's in the book, right? He rescues her and they go home.
Emma
I feel like the ending is really about the John Brown, the Harpers Ferry, the other ending. That's the thing that's coming down the pipeline is that the war has not started yet, but where things are going.
Beth
A prominent theme in Indigo is freedom. Hester's father gives up freedom to be with Hester's mother since she's enslaved. Hester's aunt, Captain, spends many years trying to find Hester, and after she's found and has her papers, is still a threat. You could be kidnapped into slavery again. In what ways does Jenkins discuss freedom? Or what did you think of this theme?
Emma
I think it's interesting that the way that Hester and Galen both talk about marriage and freedom is something that we see in a lot of historical romance. But now in this novel because of Hester's former enslaved status, there's a lot more weight going on in the discussions. I think people often use these metaphors to talk about marriage being a prison, marriage being enslavement. It's almost recklessly or without a lot of weight to them attached in Regency books of white characters set in England. But Hester really sees marriage as a way of this reinforcement of the circumstances that led to her enslavement, because her father gives up his freedom to be with her mother. So she's like, I don't want to marry for love because I see how that plays out in this dangerous world that I live in. So it's like one level, it's something that we see in a lot of historical, but because of the context of the setting and also the characters like character history, there's this other historical context and layers to how it manifests for Hester and for Galen, because it also manifests differently for them, because Hester has the threat of being re-enslaved. Well, that's never really a threat for Galen because of his lighter skin and his family background.
Beth
I think it's interesting, too, since we're referencing English historical novels and Regency historical novels, there's a part in the book where Galen says to Hester, aren't you worried that I'm going to compromise your reputation? And she's like, I don't have that luxury to worry about being compromised because I'm trying to carry people through here so they can make it to freedom. So I don't have time to worry about that stuff, basically. So I thought that was-
Emma
She's very concerned with what people know about her, but her status as a virgin is like, bottom of the barrel. She's keeping a much bigger secret of information about her, about her life.
Chels
I feel like you could go any direction with this question because every single character, every single facet of everyone's lives is around this one point of remaining free, being free. It comes just baked into the book, if that makes sense.
Beth
Yeah, I know, for sure. In the author's note, Beverly Jenkins, she cites her inspiration for this novel. So this is Jenkins talking, "The two letters in the Indigo prologue are products of my own imagination." So at the beginning of the book, this is just me talking, we see some letters from Hester's father to Catherine, and he's just relating how he fell in love with this woman and to please go look for his daughter because they did end up getting separated. So back to Jenkins. "But the account of a free man selling himself into slavery for love is based upon fact." So it's like account from, I think it's like another person relating someone else he knew. So he says, "I knew a man named Wyatt who was free. He wanted to marry a slave girl named Carrie, and he gave himself to Carrie's master to marry her. He was crazy to do that. That love is an awful thing, I tell you. I don't think I would give my freedom of way to marry anybody." So Jenkins says she found this quote from a former slave can be found in the book, Bullwhip Days.
Beth
And then she just talks about how she didn't feel like it would be a good story for the feel good arena of mainstream romance to talk about the story of Wyatt and Carrie. But she had the thought, what if this couple had a daughter and what if she was somehow able to escape slavery? I really liked this inspiration. And it seems very Jenkins who does a lot of research. I mentioned that she had a bibliography at the beginning of Night Song, the very first book she ever published, but she has them in all her books. If you look at the end of it, it also has a bibliography.
Chels
That one quote from Bullwhip Days, That love is an awful thing. That's another thing that Hester says later. Love must be a terrible thing, which is the most heartbreaking thing, I think, from both of the quotes. It's this big aspirational thing to find love and to find romantic love. It's what so much media is about striving for, but the other hand of that is how that can be used to make you suffer more.
Beth
Yeah, I really feel for Hester, I feel like the way she's approached life so far, again, she's a very practical person, makes a lot of sense that she's going to marry someone like Foster because she wants to play it safe. And also I don't think there's a lot of men in the area, so there's just a couple reasons I'm sure she's factoring into why it's a good bet. But yeah, I don't think she ever really counted on actually falling in love. I think it's considering her personal history. It comes up in a book, like I mentioned before, Galen says, I think you're afraid of being in love, but I would be too.
Emma
I think the normal romance novel thing is afraid to take a leap of faith. That's the thing that comes up in all these romance novels. No matter what the stakes are. But then with Hester, there's this added layer, which she's worried about letting her guard down because she might be sent back to slavery. And so that quote, that love is an awful thing, that could be in any romance novel. But within this context, there's a very specific consequences that aren't always there for all of our characters.
Beth
Yeah, for sure. I did want to talk about class structure. If you read a lot of historical romances, many of them are set during the Regency period in England. There, the class structure is a lot more organized and named, especially among the aristocracy. Here in an American novel, it's not as obvious, and it stems more from wealth. Plus the added element of race and the one drop rule, Hester and Galen had elements of racism and colorism to contend with as well. The disparity in class between Galen and Hester is what prevents her from saying yes to his marriage proposal for much of the book. So when considering the historical romance novel and the usual conventions, how does class affect our characters in an American setting?
Emma
I'm that reader who reads a lot of historical romance that's only set in England. I do not read a lot of books that America and Jenkins is probably even just having read two Jenkins. I've read more American set books from her than I have any other author. But I thought about this a lot in comparison with Forbidden, the other Jenkins that I've read. Most of them, Forbidden has a lot more white characters in the book because it has to deal with the hero passing. And so he's in a white community while the heroine is in a black community. And so in this book, we deal with a lot more intercommunity rules because so many of the characters are Black. And so we're dealing with the class elements across the Black community. Galen's family being wealthier and looking down on Hester and the colorism that's going on there. But I thought it was interesting how often the biases went both ways and how Hester talks about her own biases and how they're a form of protection for her that she has some skepticism of people who have been passing as an option because of the work she does on the Underground Railroad.
Emma
She worries about them being traitors and that she understands a lack of trust that might go even within this community. And she also worries about Galen's waning interest based on his wealth. And so we see biases as judgment and the judgment that the more powerful people have on Hester, but then also how biases work for class going the other way. And it can be served as a protection for the more subjugated members of the community.
Chels
Yeah. So I guess I have a few thoughts about this class and this book and others, particularly comparing the class structure in this book to a Regency. So yeah, Regencies have become so married to the aristocracy, which are an elite class that you get really bond down on who out ranks who. But it's a very small fraction of the population of England. And then, as Emma noted in our Unmasked by the Marquess episode, we don't get a lot of depictions and romance of the actual racial makeup of Regency England. So I think of that as more of something that's missing from those books. And Regencies are also dominant now and have always been very popular. But in 1996, when Indigo was first published, there was a lot more variety in the popular settings of historical romance. So you're getting medieval, you were getting Westerns, you're getting books set in the American South pre-Civil War or among the conflict of the Civil War. But you were getting them from white women who were at worst actively racist and at best ambivalent about their depictions, which is also racism. So 1972 is The Flame and The flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss is partially set on a plantation.
Chels
And in the 1980s, Heather Graham, under the pen name Shannon Drake, released Tomorrow of the Glory, which has a step back of Graham and her husband, posing in front of the Confederate flag. In the early 1990s, Lisa Kleypas wrote her Valerian series where the main characters were benevolent plantation owners. So I think it's really important to note that Jenkins was not just groundbreaking for having black main characters in historical romance, but encountering these racist narratives in romantic fiction. But as far as class goes in Indigo, it seems like it's both wealth and proximity to whiteness, which I actually don't think is really that far off from Regency England.
Chels
I think that we're just getting cordoned off into this one part and told not to think too much about it. Don't think too much about why Glasgow is a merchant city. You know what I mean? Don't think too much about that. But I think it works the same there. It's the same it works in Australia on and on. When Hester was enslaved as a child, she not only held no wealth, but was considered property. And then as an adult, she's unable to divorce herself from that history because her hands give her away.
Chels
Whereas, Galen can move through the world more easily because of what his wealth and his lighter skin tone affords him. But when his horrible grandmother dies, none of this proximity to whiteness that she held dear came through. So she's not allowed to be buried in a white cemetery. So there's that no matter how wealthy she is, that's still a different stratifier.
Beth
I just find class is much more slippery concept in America, but it is also slippery in the Regency era as well. People are moving up and down the ladders and they try and be like to the new trades people who are moving up because of money. They want to be like, Well, you're not like the old wealth like us, so therefore you can't join our very exclusive club. But it's like a new club in America.
Emma
In this book, they said that they're parallel, in english Regency, we have the aristocracy and then who has the money. Are you from an old family or do you have money? Those are separate questions. In this book, it seems to work like who has money and who has proximity to whiteness privilege, and they're aligned for the Galen family, but they're not always going to be aligned necessarily. But you have to have these both factors, but they move separately from each other, but also intersected. Obviously, with your proximity to whiteness, you're able to gain more money, just like proximity or being a member of the aristocracy, you're able to gain more money, but it's not a guarantee. So this has a parallel structure, unlike... I know some, I imagine, American romances that maybe don't address race or again have a blinders to racial elements.
Beth
Yes, I agree. So instead of having a clear cut point of view, Jenkins moves between Hester's and Galen's thoughts within a chapter, even alternating paragraphs. Although the majority of the narrative, I would say, is from Hester's point of view. How did this affect your reading experience? And did you enjoy quickly getting both main characters' point of view on the same situation?
Emma
Yes, I think Beth, I know included this question, I have problems. But not that I have problems. I do really have a hard time reading the structure. I'm very beholden to very evenly structured, dual POV, or very, not even the to be able to evenly structure and very clear call out of dual POV. It's one of the reasons that I like romance. I really enjoy that playing within a structure. And so when the structure and some of the structures moved away from, I sometimes even struggle reading it. But I do like the focus is mainly on Hester with glimpses into Galen's mind, because I think it actually serves the plot, because there's these layers of mystery first with Galen's identity as the Black Daniel, which when I first was reading the book, I thought it was going to take longer to uncover. I thought that was going to be the main plot of who is this man in the house. Hester gains that information pretty quickly. And then the question of who's betraying Hester and the community, who's working with the slave takers, and then finally, Galen's grand gesture to Hester, of what his last spoil of her is also has a little bit of a mystery that means that we need to stick with Hester's mind.
Emma
But I think it speaks to their relationship from the jump based on trust and leaps of faith with each other because they're in a situation where both of them could be very easily criminalized for the work that they're doing. They have to fall into this immediate rapport. Usually there's quick switches that happen in a book when an author does that, my reaction is like, Wait, why does the person that I was just with know this? Or why do we immediately have access to that information as the reader? Why are we not being siphoned off from that information? But I think it makes sense when you're reading Hester's point of view that you could jump into Galen's mind because Hester is so observant of Galen so quickly that she knows what Galen is thinking a lot of the time, and so it's not quite as jarring. And then also, Galen, on the other side, would be incredibly interested in what Hester is thinking all the time. So when we switch from him back to her, it also doesn't feel as jarring. It feels like it's going with the plot and the characters.
Beth
I do feel like Jenkins is what the narrative demands, whose story is it? That's, I think, why we get more of Hester's point of view. It does feel like a little bit more her story. And I do like when authors do that. We talked about Anne Mallory before, I think. And if not, we will right now where she has books. Oftentimes the split will be 80 % with one character and then 20 % with another. And I really like when authors do that because I think, and this isn't bad, but this is just the trend now, is just you get alternating chapters, a point of view, or it's pretty 50-50 split on spending time with the two main characters. I think it's interesting when the author will just go with how they think the story should be shaped.
Chels
Well, because it's set where Hester lives, you have to get that world building from her point of view. I think what you would learn from her would probably be more interesting than what you would learn from Galen's perspective on that. But then you do get the more interesting Galen perspective, which is on Hester, because his point of view on Hester does not match up exactly with how she sees herself and how she sees her potential as a love interest. But yeah, I did enjoy saying that, and I thought those moments were really sweet.
Emma
The way he was describing Hester all the time, romantic. He's good at making her feel beautiful, but also making the reader feel like, I guess, Jenkins is the one who's actually doing it. Jenkins is making you feel like he's down bad very quickly.
Beth
He's just like, What is this feeling clinching my heart. And Maxie's like, I hate to break it to you. Sorry, that's like, Oh, no. I think that is my favorite one. It's like, Oh, no, am I in love? What a character has that revelation? It gets me every time. So another thought I wanted to touch on is I think Jenkins cleverly subverted readers expectations about the uninformed, uninterested girl who doesn't talk about politics character. The way Jenkins frames the story, you know that there's a traitor in the midst, and you also know it's highly likely someone's going to try and kidnap Hester again. I honestly thought it was going to be Foster, and then it turned out to be Janine has been playing dumb and used Foster to get back to her actual lover, Lemuel, and get money to go further west. So that did surprise me when she pulled out a gun. But yeah, I just wanted to talk about this character, and maybe you guys also were surprised.
Emma
I was surprised by... I guess it comes up twice. There are two different characters who are not into politics, women, Janine and also Jeanette mentions it, which is Galen's intended. And she's also characterizing that being not political, but Jeanette does not have a turncoat moment. But I think Hester's reaction to both women being like this is like they have this potential to read more. I think Hester is a little bit less graceful about it with Janine because she doesn't like Janine. She finds Janine annoying while Jeanette is kind to her. But you have this potential at any moment to become someone who's a political actor. But I think there are links between Jeanette and Janine, even though we're more sympathetic to Jeanette. She's kinder to Hester. Janine obviously holds Hester at gunpoint. I think Janine is also a more sympathetic character than someone that you would expect who holds the heroine at gunpoint. By that point, Hester is showing her a lot more grace thinking about ways that their lives could have ended up in similar paths, like why did Hester end up on the path that she's on? Why did Janine end up on the one that she's on?
Emma
But I think that's apolitical, lack of action. I think it characterizes Hester really as this very active character that she is so deeply involved in politics, both for her work and in her just general life, her hidden work on the Underground Railroad, but also in her public life.
Beth
And yeah, I feel like it's like, who maybe has the luxury of being apolitical?vOr what are the results if you're in a different class of being apolitical? So Jeanette, I think, also is wealthy, so she can just be okay, but Janine is not wealthy. That's what is motivating her to in this turncoat moment. I do like that Hester is sympathetic to her. She has that thought like you mentioned, Emma, like, Oh, that could have been me if life had just turned out differently. Anyway, we had talked about this before and we were like, What is the connection here? But I think you just explained it.
Chels
I want to talk about the Song of Solomon in this book. In his marriage proposal at the church, Galen quotes chapters four and seven of the Song of Solomon, starting with, Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse, thou hast ravished my heart. The Song of Solomon has been cited in other romance novels like Passion by Lisa Valdez, and I think probably because of how it is uniquely erotic and Biblical works. After Galen's recitation, Hester wonders if, quote, "The great African Queen of Sheba has been as moved when Solomon spoke those words declaring his love." At one point during the poem, the daughters of Jerusalem are told, "Do not stir up or awaken love until it pleases, which is meant as a warning that love comes when it's ready and to force it brings pain." I keep thinking about that in relation to Hester, like what we were talking about earlier, who was previously content in her loveless marriage to Foster because she was anticipating that love only brings pain or a greater path to suffering. Then this is where she's thinking love must be a terrible thing.
Emma
I just want to point out also that I think there's also this reference to Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon, which gets its name from the poem and the Bible. There are a few different connections that I thought of with the Morrison, Song of Solomon. So the Song of Solomon is also set in Michigan, like this book. And there's also intergenerational, family themes and themes of escape and freedom connected to earthly love. And what does it mean to leave someone behind when you're trying to attempt freedom, especially who gets left behind and how often it is like Black women is a theme of the Morrison book. So I think Jenkins might be thinking about that. I feel like it's a big reference. Obviously, it's the Bible. It's also a big reference. But I think the connection, especially with a book about Black characters, there's probably also this connection to the Morrison novel.
Chels
Yeah. Well, I'm leaving behind... And then too, it's something that we haven't really talked too much about Bea yet. But Bea, I see that she does the same thing that Janine does, basically. She betrays the people in her community, or I guess there's not really Janine's close community, but she betrays people in order to... For Janine, it's framed as more selfish, like for her to get away. But for Bea, it's to learn information about her children. Lemuel, who's Bea's son, fostered this part of the reason why he's trying to capture people and kidnap people. Part of the thing that's causing it is this deep-seated rage at being left behind by Bea. That's why he didn't forgive her, why he gets her in on betraying the people in her community. Hester, when she finds out about Bea, she ends up hugging her at that endpoint. I wonder if we were maybe getting primed for that from Hester's reactions to Jeanette, who's connected to Janine, Hester being able to look at people from multiple angles and not be like, This is a good thing that you did, but being like, This is just really, really sad.
Beth
Yeah, just understand where they're coming from.
Chels
Yeah, because I think that's more for the reader's benefit than it is for us to be thinking about like, Yeah, this is a really horrible thing, but you got to zoom out on everything and if you want to get a clear picture of what happened.
Beth
Yeah, for sure. I would love to speak about the nicknames in this book. Galen calls Hester Indigo, and he says in the book, he spoke as if she were someone he cherished. Galen also has a nickname, The Dragon, which, surprisingly, is not because of how fierce he is, but because his family thought he was not a very attractive baby.
Beth
When we get to that part, I was just like, Really?
Emma
What is the deal with unattractive babies becoming very striking men in historical romance?
Beth
You're only thinking of Dain.
Chels
The most unattractive baby.
Emma
And it was the people who liked him! Because Galen has a part of the family who don't like him. But it's like his members of the family who do love him think he's an unattractive baby.
Chels
Yeah, I don't really have much to think about for the Dragon, except for the dragon is just incredibly funny.
Beth
It is funny, but it does suit him. It's funny because he does grow into the nickname as he gets older, which is scar
Beth
y and furious and just casually be like to Hester like, Do you want me to murder him for you? I totally want to do that. Yeah, you can do that. Fine. She's like, Oh, yeah, an indigo.
Chels
Oh, that just gets me so much. It's such a sweet. And then how early he starts calling her indigo early?
Emma
Yes, it happened- It happened so fast, and she's taken aback by it. He's like, That's just what we do. We give each other nicknames. He's talking about the underground railroad work, and he gets this intimacy by saying, That's just my profession. We have code names. You have to have one. It's like, Okay, this incredibly sweet romantic nickname is professionalism to him.
Beth
Yeah, there's this quote I wanted to read where he's like, I think it's at that point you're talking about Emma, where I think it's the first time he calls her Indigo in the same conversation. So Galen speaking after Hester puts herself down. So he says, You devalue yourself no reason, Indigo. Hester felt herself blossom again under the name. I prefer you call me Hester, in Galen's response. But you're not a Hester. You're an Indigo. Hesters are joyless, pruning old women who look down their noses at sinners like me. Take the word of an authority on women. Indigo is what you are. Indigo is who you will be. Sorry, I'm just so... But I just love that part where it says Hester felt herself blossom under the name. So even though she's like, Just call me Hester. I don't know. Maybe what Galen, she grows into this name. This thing that has marked her as a slave, he turns around and he makes it good. Okay, so I also, as we've been talking about the nickname, we also wanted to give a bit of a background on Hester's hands and how they get dyed.
Beth
So they're permanently died from handling indigo when she was enslaved in South Carolina. So she worked there until she was nine years old before she got rescued. So before synthetic dye was formulated in 1856 by a British chemist, William Perkins, who produced moving, he needed plants from the genus Indigo Fevera to make indigo. Nobody grew successfully until a 16 year old enslaver, Elizabeth Lucas, tried it on three plantations she managed for her father, and then the enslaved people on those plantations innovated how to grow and process indigo. Donna Hardy from the International Center for Indigo Culture said slavery wasn't even legal in Georgia until indigo became the main export in South Carolina. The British governors in Georgia decided to legalize slavery to keep the indigo industry going. Georgia lifted its ban on slavery in 1751 to fuel the production of indigo. So when the Revolutionary War starts and are no longer getting... Like England was getting indigo from the States, they then switched to forcing Indian sharecroppers like an Indian to grow it. I don't know. I thought it was interesting because it's just like a very something that really affects Hester's life. Even after she thought that she always wears gloves in public, always.
Beth
And I think there's at the end of the book when she was finally kidnapped or tries to kidnap again, but he asks her to, Oh, he's kidnapped her and he's like, Remove your gloves.
Chels
There are so many times in historical romance where you look at your hands, you look at your hands to see what you've been doing, or if they're calloused, are they marked or anything. I think the hands being stained indigo is like that to the upteenth most.
Chels
I don't know if I have much more to add to that point, except it's just really horrifying and sad just to think about how it wasn't until indigo came about that Georgia
Beth
Hey we can profit off this. We need to leave our force. Yeah, it's pretty devastating. So I think it was Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. I think we're doing it. There might have been other states. We're not historians here, but yeah, those three states were doing it. And I.
Emma
Think, this is the thing I wasn't sure if I was going to talk about it, but I think it makes sense too. So, Eliza Lucas, that name, I grew up in the south, I grew up in Georgia, and I was definitely a STEM scholarship tween thing. Just a little bit after Indigo came out, I remembered the name of Eliza Lucas once you shared this historical context for me. I was like, Oh, I remember being taught about Eliza Lucas. And she was definitely characterized as a protofeminist in those STEM camps that I went to, it was like, Oh, this teenage girl invented the scientific process. Isn't that cool?
Emma
And then I had forgotten about her name. And I think that this added context of the fact that she managed plantations, owned people, but while doing this scientific progress that can be characterized as a feminist act in some circles, I think that background, even though that's not necessarily discussed as directly in the book, I think speaks to some of the trends that we see in historical romance where white women characters are given jobs and sciences or just jobs in general, even like suffragette characters, that the historical counterparts of them have these intersecting identities where they're also oppressors or they have access to money or they have access to privilege that allows them to be in those spaces. This is a very direct one where this woman was able to do these things and afford an independence while owning people. And owning people is not feminist, objectively. But it still has this like if you cut off part of the story, you have this girl boss feminism that you can characterize as science-y and cool, but then you're ignoring a whole swath of this woman's privilege and identity and the acts that she participated in.
Chels
Yeah, that's my biggest beef with suffragette historical. Or at least some of them are just like that... Because everything I know about suffragette were pretty racist. Right. So when you get into suffragette as being a shorthand for feminists, the political activism for white women is shorthand for feminists, then you're just basically you're really meaning white feminism, but you're saying feminist. I don't even know if you could even... But taking someone who actually had multiple plantations and applying that is... I can see that happening because people are insane. Right.
Emma
Yeah. I think science, especially the history of science, oftentimes there's one story, but then there's also the other story that when you dig into it, reveals how often the bodies of black women are subjugated by the science, like in experiments or I think of Henrietta Lacks, all these things that are characterized as movements forward, who is being oppressed by those movements forward. And so even heroines who are in the sciences, in historical sciences, I think if they're not addressing where that money is coming from or what the science is being used for, it can be hollow or they're turning a blind eye. I think science, suffragettes are their own individual problematic thing, but I think science, just the history of science, and it's often fraught and not always simple or easy to turn into a romantic story if you don't want to ignore things.
Beth
Yeah, I think you're right. Science is especially fraught where black people especially have been experimented on. Also in prisons, people, they don't even know what they're getting. I'm trying to think of a specific experiment that's not coming to me right now. Let's maybe move on.
Emma
That's going to be great.
Beth
I think it's important to talk about. I know a general annoyance we all have. I feel like feminism is framed as like a woman does something, therefore-.
Chels
A woman has an orgasm Feminism!
Beth
Feminism.
Emma
Women have an orgasm or job.
Emma
Something I wanted to talk about in this book is the use of the abject in this book. The abject is a concept from the theorist Julia Kristeva from the '80s. She wrote in The Powers of Horror, this quote from her is, The refuge and corpses show me what thrust aside in order to live.
Emma
So the abject is that which disrupts social order reasons and taboo things that are barely separate from ourselves and remind a person of their body without being of their body. Art that focuses on these materials often aims to create an uncanny feeling. This can be art that deals with materials or subjects and materials that are discarded, that are closely associated with the human experience. So things from newspapers, the daily turning over a newspaper can deal with the object, or hair, or bodily fluids. So I tend to notice immediately when romantic novel characters go to the bathroom because it's something that's so rarely referenced. And this is an important part in the development of the relationship between Galen and Hester. Because Galen going to the bathroom, he is injured and Hester wants him to use the chamber pot in the room and he's like, No, I want to go outside. I want to go to the outhouse. This is important in his talking to Hester and then developing, learning each other's personalities. It's important to his character that he insist on going outside. Bodily functions also come up again when their house is vandalized because it's done with excrement.
Emma
So I think the theme of the abject goes beyond just incidental inclusion. The service level reaction to these mentions can sometimes be, Oh gross!. But the abject art has this long feminist history based in that reaction. So linking the experience of being cast off as the antithesis of objectification and commodification of feminine bodies. But abjection also has a complicated history with bodies of color. Often the unruliness of the body and abject art is a narrow venue for white women to act out or escape objectification without considering added layers of violence for people of color, shirking notions of fitness or accepted presentation, especially for women. I was thinking do either of you have thoughts about how these abject mentions work in this book or in Romance at large? The other author that I have noticed mentions things that deal with the abject and bodily fluids in a cleaner environments are Sherry Thomas. There are lots of mentions of bodily functions. I know people go to the bathroom in her books more often than other Victorian or Regency books. So your reactions to the inclusions in this book or abject at large in romance? I don't know.
Beth
I don't know if this is abject, but I do like that it is a plot point because it's something so simple, but he is hiding. The reason she doesn't want him to go outside, Hester doesn't want Cain to go outside, is because someone might see him and he's at risk of being captured. So she's just like, Just let me... I change the chamber pot all the time. It's not a big deal. I think it just establishes the dynamic right away that he's very stubborn. He's like, No, I'm going outside. I will do it by myself. He walks outside even though he's still injured. They're arguing right from the get-go. I like that it's over something as simple as he just needs to use bathroom and he wants to go outside.
Chels
I'm thinking about Shoe. When we're first introduced to Shoe, he's disgusting. He smells really awful. And that's like a thing that comes up over and over and over again. That's the racist white people like Shoe will do whatever they can to degrade black people. He's the one who vandalizes Hester's home with excrement. So like this thing where you contrast that too. Galen is going to use the outhouse. Hester is very clean, very tidy, has the vanilla. Even if her clothes are coming apart a little bit, they're still very well cared for. Yeah, Jenkins is showing how they diverge, how there's this more that they both have to... Hester and Galen cannot act the way that she can act. Not that they would want to. Nobody would really want to, I hope. But I think that was a very interesting way for her to do that. Yeah, I think also the vanilla, I think that.
Emma
Relates to this. Hester sensed herself with Vanilla. Galen says, You smell so good. What are you wearing? And she's like, I'm not wearing perfume. You're not wearing anything. And she says, Oh, I'm wearing vanilla. And from cooking, she's using the same thing that she would cook with to scent herself. But I think it does relate to the adject of the idea of consuming, like you're connecting your body to things that are consumed. For Hester, it links her to domesticity, but also that she's connecting herself with these items that are treats and consumption. That, again, is one of those things that has an uncanny experience as a person where you don't want to be consumed, but there is this hominess and it leads to this romantic connection for them. So it's that weird feeling where you're smelling. You're literally smelling good enough to eat. And that gourmand scent has that uncanny reaction for him. And then Galen has these oversized reactions to the vanilla scent throughout the book that are over the top, but because he's so linked to Hester.
Chels
Yeah, he buys the vanilla and then he puts it on her thigh before they go home. Yeah. That was really hot. Don't think about those meanies at the ball, Hester. It's really what he said. He's like, What do you mean meanies? Don't be thinking about them.
Beth
I think about that. I feel like it's just... This one, Indigo was published in the '90s, like Chels mentioned, and I feel like there was much more naive heroines during this time. Hester even doesn't like, Should I share? I'm having my period. Do I share this with Galen? After they get married, should he know about this? Then also other heroines, she's not too… After they have sex the first time, Galen's like, What if he were pregnant? She's like, What? What are you talking about? I don't know. I feel like there's maybe a connection there of just an experience or just what level of sharing of her body and even bodily fluids does she share with this other person? It is.
Emma
Not awful to have a heroine who's a virgin and naive, but also unconcerned with that. We talked about with her reputation.
Beth
Yes, she's a girl.
Emma
She has a non-plussed attitude about sex. She's also like a her... We talked about this a little bit with Foster. The marriage with Foster, she's intending to enter into... She's planning on it being sexless. It's going to be a marriage. It's like, this is going to be a companion. It's like this is going to be platonic and she's uninterested in that sexual relationship. Janine says some cool things to her about that, that she would be willing to accept that. It's like, Galen is this unique thing for Hester.
Beth
Okay, do we have anything else to say? Other than we love Beverly Jenkins. We love you, Beverly Jenkins, who is 100 % listening to us right now. So thank you so much for listening to Reformed Rakes. If you enjoy the podcast, you can find monthly bonus episodes on our patron at patreon.com/reformedrakes. You can also follow us on Twitter and Instagram for show updates. The username for both is @reformedrakes. Thank you again and we will see you next time.
