This is a novel about a slave and slaveowner, from both viewpoints.  The owner inherited the slave,  more or less.  The slave was bred to serve.  The owner struggles to break the learned habit of ignoring slaves’ humanity, while the slave battles learned habits of subservience.  Struggling to revise their relationship, they delve into their childhoods to find out about their parents and the system that made them. 
The author does not present the back story in straight exposition.  Read this if, in addition to being interested in the theme, you like to deduce background information from clues in the dialog and the characters’ reminiscences.

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