The Letter Writer by Ann Rinaldi

Harriet Whitehead, 11, lives with her half-brother Richard, his wife Pleasant, their baby William, sister Margaret, and Mother Whitehead on a plantation in the South in 1831. Her best friend is Violet, who is her slave. Her brother is a Methodist minister and is very strict with her upbringing. Since Mother Whitehead is going blind, Harriet becomes her letter writer. She begins correspondence with her Uncle Arthur in England and writes all of Mother Whitehead's letters about the running of the plantation. She and Violet hear about a slave preacher named Nat Turner who baptizes in the river. They go to see him. Nat ends up working at their plantation and tells Harriet about a loving and forgiving God - very different from the vengeful God that Richard preaches about. Nat asks Harriet to draw a map for him of the surrounding area so that he can go to different plantations to preach to the slaves. What he ends up doing is leading a slave rebellion and killing 57 people on the surrounding plantations, including all of Harriet's family. Harriet and Violet are the only ones left. Harriet contacts her Uncle Arthur in England and tells him that everyone is dead. Harriet runs the plantation until Uncle Arthur can get there. She feels responsible for giving Nat the map. When Nat is captured, she is afraid that she will be blamed for the map. She and Violet find the map and Harriet wants to destroy it, but Uncle Arthur arrives and insists that they turn it in to the sheriff. Harriet finds out that Uncle Arthur is actually her father and that Violet is her half-sister.

The book contains graphic descriptions of the killings done by Nat Turner. Uncle Arthur also explains about his affairs with a slave resulting in Violet's birth and also with a writer in England, who was Harriet's mother. Ann Rinaldi explains in notes at the end that Nat Turner is a great mystery to historians because they don't know why he revolted and killed all the people that he did. All of his previous life he had been a minister who preached peace and love. The author presents both sides of his personality without painting him as either a hero or a villain.