The Indigo Girl

Eliza is the main character of the narrative and its sole narrative voice. She is the eldest daughter of Colonel George Lucas and Ann Lucas, and she has three siblings: two brothers, George and Tommy, and one sister, Polly. Eliza is described as having emerald eyes, brown hair, and a girlish body. She was formally educated in French and music in England as a child, and she is an avid reader who often reads books deemed unfit for a woman, such as works by Aristotle or John Locke.

When her family lived in Antigua as part of the British colony, she became best friends with Ben, an enslaved boy working on her father’s plantation. After some years, her family relocated to South Carolina to inherit her grandfather’s plantations. At the age of 16, she becomes the manager of her father’s three plantations in South Carolina and is tasked with running them while he returns to Antigua and her brother George finishes his commission as a British soldier. Over the course of the following three years, Eliza tries to develop an indigo-making industry on her father’s land, despite perpetual struggles and societal opposition. She only succeeds a few months before her slated return to Antigua.