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About the Book

HISTORICAL FICTION YES’m J.M. DUKE It is 1950 in rural Virginia when Samantha Lee is born into an upper middle class white family in a town divided along racial lines by both railroad tracks and philosophies. As the baby arrives home, she is welcomed into the arms of Pearl, the God-fearing, uneducated black hired help who will eventually become Sammie’s confidant, ally, and teacher of life’s greatest lessons. As Sammie matures through the tumultuous 1960s, Pearl makes it her personal mission to deter the girl from a predetermined life of self-importance and bigotry. After Sammie’s mother takes a job, Pearl becomes the mother figure in her life, nursing her through illness, teaching her Bible lessons, and sharing life stories. But as the little girl and her caretaker bond, they both struggle with the tension between their love for each other and their obligations. Nine years later, as the nation battles to achieve civil rights, Sammie and Pearl find themselves in very different places in the same small town. “Yes’m” is a story of hope, trust, wisdom, reconciliation, and respect as a black maid and her white charge share the winds of historical change. “The stories of Pearl and Sammie intertwine in a way that will leave you both nostalgic for an earlier era and grateful that the uglier parts of the past are behind us.” —S. E. Jacobs, attorney, Richmond, Virginia “The chapters flow like vignettes as Sammie and Pearl come to life.” —B. L. Cloud, MEd, University of Virginia; Goodreads reviewer ““Yes’m” makes us remember the joys and pains of being part of a family—wherever we may have grown up.” —E. T. Fife, retired educator

About the Author

J. M. Duke was born and raised in a small Virginia village, a junction between two railroads with an approximate 1950s population of three thousand. She was inspired to write “Yes’m” when a lifelong friend asked her why she did not appear in a kindergarten picture. She currently lives in Alabama.