Lost German Slave Girl

True story.  In 1818, a very young German immigrant orphan is bought (indentured) for the cost of her ocean passage from Europe to New Orleans.  Twenty five years later she is spotted on the streets of the city - the slave of a wealthy, well-connected, though quite unpopular local businessman.  The German community rallied around her, determined to free her by proving in a court of law that Sally Miller the slave was the same person as Salome Muller, redemptioner and white woman.
This is a fascinating page of investigative social and legal history.  The author has sorted through a complex story, nicely rearranged the parts and presented a well paced, thought provoking tale of Rhineland redemptioners, New Orleans antebellum mores, and the special peculiarities of the American slavery laws.  Truth often is stranger than fiction.   This is a page turner!!