Delmarva Today 11-19-21

Harold Wilson’s guest is Eastern Shore writer Barbara Shamp. They’re discussing Barbara’s new historical novel A Wife in Watercolor. Barbara’s novel is based on the life of Oxford, MD merchant Robert Morris, Sr. in the early 1700’s. The narrative focuses on a servant Sarah Wise mentioned in Morris’ will. In the Author’s Note, Barbara, writing as B.B. Shamp says, The record of women in Western history is sparse. Through the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries very little is written by women, about women, and nearly nothing about women of the lower classes. For me, Sarah’s story needed to be imagined. Barbara talks about the early history of Oxford, Robert Morris, Sr., and her purpose in inventing the life of his slave Sarah Wise. Barbara Shamp has given us a heavily researched historical novel, extremely well written, and expansive in its coverage of the diverse ethnic populations on the Eastern Shore at that time. As a novel, it also has a depth of expression that lays bare the nature of the human condition.

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