Belle: The Slave Daughter and the Lord Chief Justice

Like Hedy's Folly this book was interesting but I felt misled. It's supposedly about Dido and the Lord Chief Justice. It's not really. It's mostly about Lord Mansfield and the cases he oversaw that probably helped lead to the abolition of slavery in England.

Most of the book, like I said, deals with Lord Mansfield's life and career. We're also introduced to others who were against slavery in England. Byrne also discusses slavery in the British West Indies, and what slave ships were like. She gives us some information on other free blacks and those of mixed race to hypothesize what it was like for Dido in England because we just don't have the information to know for sure.

What is actually about Dido? Well, there's the opening chapter looking at the paining of her and her cousin. I found that really interesting, breaking down all the symbolism within the painting. There's also the last chapter that discusses Dido's life after Mansfield's death based on marriage records, etc. Again very interesting. But if you're looking for a book about Dido, this really isn't it, even though it's still an interesting book.