Lalita did a fantastic job of bringing her family history to life. By creating a work of fiction she was able to add dialogue and feeling to her story. The reader was able to really connect with the five generations that her story was centered on. The novel is set amid small farmhouses and a tight knit community of French-speaking slaves, free people of color, and whites.
We followed Elisabeth, Suzette, Philomene, Emily, and their offspring through years of slavery and then freedom. These women and their families endured heartbreak, fear, family separation, and the hardships of the Civil War. Through it all, they fought to keep their families together and worked for a better future for their children. The women of the family were forced to bear their white owners children, often resulting from rape, and care for their family as well as their own children. After the Civil War was over and the slaves were legally free, Emily had a real forbidden-love relationship with a white man that ultimately resulted in his death.
This novel is a wonderful work of historical fiction that gives a glimpse into a rarely seen part of American history that you don’t want to miss.
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