A Sitting in St. James by Rita Garcia-Williams

A Sitting in St. James by Rita Williams-Garcia
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Many Thanks to Reading Rants for recommending this book as one of her favorites for 2021. I enjoyed reading about the white family with slaves, it's past and it's present, as Williams-Garcia writes with feeling, authenticity, and empathetic in the brutal way Madame Sylvie Guilbert treats and talks to her family, her servants, and those in her community, as she strives to marry off grandsons, ignore granddaughters who are mixed race, and still tell her own story of being married off to a brutal man. I loved many of the characters, Byron, Pearce, Thisbe, Eugenie, Jane, Lily and the painter and hated Lucien, Sylvie, and all those who ignored the hard work of the slaves on their plantations and took all the glory themselves. A mesmerizing read!

View all my reviews

Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee

Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Boy did this book have everything!!! First of all---awesome narration by Emily Woo Zeller; kick-ass females- Andy and Sammy (African American and Chinese girls posing as cowboys), wonderful father underappreciated by daughter, Gold Rush with all the immigrants, criminals, bullies, and adventures galore!!! This is a wonderful book encompassing historical fiction, diversity in characters, and so many plot twists you will be wringing your hands and rooting for Andy, Sammy, Cay, West and Pedro and of course their horses and donkey! A must read for all, I am just so sorry it took me this long to read!!!

View all my reviews

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of the adult books on my Summer TBR and like The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd's exhaustive research on the Grimke sisters, Sarah and Angelina, reveals difficult lives for women who wanted to listen to their "inner voice." Sarah Grimke abhors slavery and wants to be a jurist like her father and brothers. When her mother gives her a slave, Handful, Sarah wants to give Handful her freedom instead. Told in alternating chapters by Sarah and Handful, the reader is plunged into the horrors of slave life as punishments are exacted on slaves for the slightest infractions; there are much worse agonies for stealing, etc. and all the slaves must watch and learn from the whippings and such. Sarah's life is fraught with stammering, and older sister, Mary who is evil just like her mother, and a father Sarah thinks will accept her longings to be a lawyer like her brothers. There was beauty in the slave story quilts Handful and her mother made; but these quilts were a testament to the slaves' suffering and their yearnings to be free and fly away like their ancestors. Teens and adults who like historical fiction will love this story of Sarah's and Handful's lives, friendship, and connection; a must read.

View all my reviews