The Indigo Girl by Natasha Boyd is an historical fiction novel about Eliza Lucas who was born in Antigua in 1722 and lived in England for much of her childhood before moving to a large plantation in South Carolina. She was the daughter of Col. George Lucas who, when Eliza is sixteen, leaves the family to pursue his military and political ambitions, and puts Eliza in charge of the three plantations he has acquired since relocating his family to South Carolina. This is the story of a series of failures and finally success in the establishment of indigo as a major export of South Carolina (which is why South Carolina’s flag has an indigo background), all thanks to the perseverence of a sixteen year old girl, desperately seeking a crop that would save the family plantations. In her attempts, Eliza transformed agriculture in colonial South Caroline with indigo which eventually produced one-third the total value of the colony’s exports before the Revolutionary War. Eliza goes on to marry Charles Pinkney, a widower and neighboring planter. Their sons Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and Thomas Lucas Pinckney grew up to pursue political careers. Charles became an American statesman, military officer and Founding Father who served as United States Minister to France from 1796 to 1797, and represented South Caroline at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Thomas went on to develop and sign the Pinckney Treaty that give the United States use of the Mississippi River for trade, setting the boundary between the United States and Spanish colonies. Upon news of Eliza’s death in 1793, George Washington was a pallbearer at her funeral in 1793.
I found the actual history of Eliza far more interesting than the romanticized version Boyd offers in this book. Although she sticks to the facts and this is fleshed out historical fiction, there is far too much ink spent on inner turmoil, romantic feelings, and hidden agendas. I am glad, however, to have learned about the history of indigo in South Carolina.
