Taking place in the early nineteenth century in southern England, Art & Grace, a regency era novel, follows a mixed-race maid, Bess, as she struggles to ensure a stable and safe future. The premise of the story intrigued me by the inclusion of aspects of slavery and race which is so often left out in the writings of Dickens and Austen. Indeed, in his book The World, the Text and the Critic, Edward Said points out how the underlying context of colonialism serves as the unspoken funder of the rich and wealthy during this period. Author Catherine E. Chapman brings…