On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Read by Sally Darling
An elderly lady sits in her parlor, contemplating the events that shaped her life. Born in the 1830s, Emma Garnet Tate Lowell is the eldest daughter of a poor but aristocratic Southern belle and a rich, opinionated, abusive father. The Tate household is held together by Clarisse, a free black woman, who knew Mr. Tate “when.” Tate attempts to control and dominate his wife and children with brute force and harsh words. However, Emma’s mother and older brother conspire to nurture Emma’s native curiosity and love of learning, until fate brings a Northerner, Quincey Lowell, fresh out of medical school, to Emma’s doorstep. At age 17, she marries him and takes Clarisse with her. A new household; three children with a liberal, generous, loving husband; the Civil War; death; and good deeds and bad all pass through her thoughts in a death bed recollection/confession of a life abundantly lived.
