The Book of Night Women

Lilith hides in a pitch-black basement room and Homer sends down food for her. Lilith listens to them laugh above her and she hears a Johnny-jumper ask Homer where the girl is. Paris has been missing for four days. Lilith sees Homer bathing and is shocked by the fact that her entire body is covered in scars, all down her back and front. Another woman named Pallas calls Lilith upstairs. She and Homer discuss what they should do with Lilith, but they do not come to a conclusion.

One day Homer gives Lilith work to do in the cellar. Wilkins approaches the main house and everyone falls silent. He asks Homer where Paris is and she claims ignorance but admits Lilith is downstairs. He slaps her twice and says it may have been too long since she was last whipped because she defied his orders to send Lilith to the fields. Homer begs him not to hurt her and explains that his wife gave them more work and Homer chose Lilith to help because she would be the least help in the fields. Jack says the other Johnny-jumpers claim that Paris ran away, and when Jack leaves, Pallas runs down asking why the johnny-jumpers would lie for them. Homer tells her to think about what happens after a cat catches a bird.

Chapter 3 begins by explaining the hierarchy of enslaved people on the plantation, from the house to the field. Two things matter in this hierarchy: how dark an enslaved person’s skin is, and where the white men make them work, the former influencing the latter. On top is the head of the house, who at Montpelier is Homer. Next are the enslaved people who work in the rooms and grounds. Then the cooks, the cleaners, and those who care for the children. Then there are the skilled artisans, the stable boys, the coachmen, and finally the Johnny-jumpers and the enslaved people in the field. Of those in the field, there are the strongest ones who do the hardest labor, then the regular enslaved people in the field, and finally children who carry trash and water throughout the plantation.

The narrator explains Montpelier’s history. The old master, Patrick Wilson, came back from fighting for the British in the American Revolutionary War with mental health issues, and the overseer Jack Wilkins effectively ran the estate. When Patrick Wilson died, his son Humphrey Wilson returned from being educated in England. He finds his mother seemingly starving and Jack Wilkins acting like he owns the estate. Homer explains that Jack Wilkins told her to stop feeding his mother because she was barely eating. He yells at Wilkins and then tells Homer to feed his mother. On his way out he turns around to say please.

Humphrey Wilson and his friend Robert Quinn now run the estate. The narrator explains that when they get to the colony, the white men can do whatever they want with no repercussions. Lilith decides that Wilson is not bad to look at. He does not like that the people he enslaves die of starvation and they waste money buying new ones, so he orders them to be fed better.

Lilith studies Homer and acts proud even though she is terrified. A woman named Andromeda orders Lilith around and Lilith responds by making fun of her. She receives a slap from Andromeda and then attacks her, not stopping until the men hit her with a rolling pin and she passes out.

A woman accuses Lilith of being sasabonsam, which is a concept from one of the African tribes. Homer makes her participate in a ritual and then the next day Circe dies brutally with blood coming out of every hole in her body. Lilith sobs and Homer comforts her while telling her that Circe never treated her as her own child. Circe is barren and bitter and after Lilith came into the house Circe was put back into the fields.

Lilith gets lonely indoors but when the harvest comes, she feels grateful that she is not in the fields. Homer begins teaching her how to read using a book called Joseph Andrews, saying that while Lilith cannot control the white man she can control herself. Lilith likes reading because it makes her feel less lonely. Homer takes such an interest in Lilith’s life and well-being that Lilith starts to wonder what she wants in return.

The mistress comes into the kitchen examining the enslaved people working in the house and asks Homer about the young one in the cellar. As Homer starts to deny her presence, Lilith jumps forward, and the mistress orders Homer to clean her up.

Lilith starts seeing things in the night and dreaming about a white man forcing himself upon a Black woman and then killing her. Homer grabs Lilith in the night and leads her out into the field. She then disappears and Lilith begins to run, just trying to survive the night, but she sees a light, which she follows into a cave. In the cave there are six women: Homer, Callisto, Gorgon, Pallas, Iphigenia, and Hippolyta. They tell Lilith that she is Jack Wilkins’s child and these are her sisters. Lilith is in denial about her lineage and then threatens to tell the mistress. They tell Lilith they are planning to be free by Easter. The other women criticize Homer’s decision to let Lilith attend and Lilith keeps talking back until Pallas points a gun at her and she runs out of the cave.

Tantalus runs away and the narrator explains the role of the Maroons, who used to be the friends of enslaved people and now are the enemies. Lilith says she hopes they catch him, but secretly she feels fondness for Tantalus because he showed her a page from a book with a picture of a prince looking lovingly at a sleeping princess. The Maroons catch Tantalus seven miles from Montpelier and get paid two pounds each for returning him. Immediately the Johnny-jumpers tie up Tantalus and Quinn cuts off his foot.

Lilith realizes suddenly that she is attracted to Wilson. She knows he has the power to bring her above the other enslaved women and save her from the Johnny-jumpers. She tries to get his attention but he barely notices her except requesting that the girl in the cellar make his tea.