The Story of a Slave (1894) is presented as the autobiography of a slave named Paul, but in fact is believed to be a fictional account. The work was published anonymously and no author has since been identified.

Paul was born in Alabama and learned to read and write as a child. When he was eighteen, he began to work as a field hand on a Choteax family plantation. He later moved to another of his master's plantations to work as a house-boy. Here, he met and fell in love with his master's daughter, Virginia Choteaux. Soon, Virginia discovers she is pregnant, but before the lovers can arrange an escape, Virginia's unsuspecting parents arrange for her marriage to a young white man. The memoir concludes with news of Paul's former mistress's death, some years after the Civil War.

Monique Prince