My Name Is Ona Judge

By: Suzette D. Harrison

Narrated by: Tovah Ott, Aure Nash

New Hampshire, 1796. “My name is Ona Judge, and I escaped from the household of the President of the United States. I was the favored maid of George and Martha Washington, but they deemed me a slave and thought me property, and I hear ten dollars is offered as reward for my capture. Now I must write the truth that I have lived, and tell my story…”

Chincoteague, Virginia, present day. Rain soaks Tessa Scott as she runs from her car to the old vine-covered property she has been called to survey. She’s too busy to accept a new job, but doing this favor for the grandmother of her childhood sweetheart delays a painful decision she must make about a future with her controlling boyfriend.

But when Tessa finds a tattered journal carefully hidden inside the house’s ancient fireplace, the tragic story of how Ona was ripped from her mother’s arms to live and work in the palatial Mount Vernon, and the heart-shattering betrayal that led her to risk her life and run, has Tessa spellbound. Could discovering this forgotten scandal at the heart of her nation’s history force her to confront her own story? As she races to reach the final page, will anything prepare her for the desperate moment when Ona’s captors find her again? Will it inspire Tessa to take ownership of her own life and set herself free?

©2022 Suzette D. Harrison (P)2022 Dreamscape Media, LLC

This book should be required in US history classes

This book was amazing & well written historical fiction based on real events. Going back & forth between the past & the present was easy to follow. The 2 main character’s descriptions of events were perfect. I don’t know if it’s common knowledge that both Washington & his wife were slave owners, I’d never thought about it even though Hamilton & others have been outed. What a farce the constitution was.

Excellent dual timeline historical fiction

I am a big fan of historical fiction, and an even bigger fan of historical fiction with a dual timeline. Weaving such a story can sometimes be clunky, but Suzette D. Harrison did an excellent job seamlessly jumping back and forth between 1793 and current day. I wasn’t sure at first, but Ona Judge was, in fact, a slave owned by George Washington. This fact makes the book that much more interesting and important. Slavery is an ugly stain on our nation’s history, so I try to read books that accurately depict the experience of enslaved people, versus those that attempt to show the “up side” of being an enslaved person if owned by a humane master. There is nothing humane about being counted as 3/5 a human, regardless of how many nice dresses you are given. I found myself much more invested in Ona’s story than Tessa’s, but I suspect most readers would say the same, since Ona’s story is so historically significant. I listened to the audiobook and thought the narration was very good, so regardless of what medium you experience this book, I highly recommend experiencing My Name is Ona Judge.

Absolutely loved this book!

This was a wonderful historical fiction. The back and forth from the past to the present only added to the intrigue of the book! So many emotions and feelings and topics touched that made this book a top 10 for me.
And I learned interesting facts about my culture and history that I did not know!!
And the narrators were on point!

Glad I listened but Ona is the character of interest.

I always like historical fiction in this one isn’t bad. I Ona is a wonderful character well developed and interesting to listen to. The present day character Tessa, on the other hand is rather annoying. We get it. She made a decision regarding a pregnancy in the past that apparently haunts her but to continuously mention it over and over again, is unnecessary end result in an annoyance with the character more than a sympathetic feeling toward her. It’s totally worth listening to, for the most interesting part of the story based on the true story of Ona Judge.

Great Historical Account

I read this as a selection for a book club. While I enjoyed the author's writing, I am always grieved by accurate depictions of slave cruelty. There are times when I wanted to just stop reading the book, but continued in spite of my emotions. I do think the author did a good job navigating between time periods and drawing an analogy between the lives of Ona Judge and Tessa Scott. This was also documentation of how easily the early American society accepted bondage of black folks. It was not just President Washington, but I believe, 10 out of 12 of the first US presidents who owned slaves. I appreciate that this was an account from slaves; their thoughts, emotions, dreams and never-ending determination to be free. I can only say, thank you for their relentless pursuit of freedom.