'The man's mine and I do what I please with him – that's it!'

Published in 1852, 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' was an immediate success, was influential in securing the abolition of slavery and established Harriet Beecher Stowe as America's first major woman novelist. With a compelling narrative and memorable characters, the novel vividly explores the relationship between slave, trader and owner, and exposes a system in which men, women and even children were property to be bought and sold for profit or to settle debts. Still capable of arousing both compassion and anger, 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' was described by Tolstoy as “one of the greatest productions of the human mind.”