Skin and Bones by Renee Watson

 

ABOUT

From the acclaimed #1 New York Times bestselling author comes a soulful and lyrical novel exploring sisterhood, motherhood, faith, love, and ultimately what gets passed down from one generation to the next   At 40, Lena Baker is at a steady and stable moment in life—between wine nights with her two best friends and her wedding just weeks away, she’s happy in love and in friendship until a confession on her wedding day shifts her world. Unmoored and grieving a major loss, Lena finds herself trying to teach her daughter self-love while struggling to do so herself. Lena questions everything she’s learned about dating, friendship, and motherhood, and through it all, she works tirelessly to bring the oft-forgotten Black history of Oregon to the masses, sidestepping her well-meaning co-workers that don’t understand that their good intentions are often offensive and hurtful. Through Watson’s poetic voice, skin & bones is a stirring exploration of who society makes space for and is ultimately a story of heartbreak and healing.

MY THOUGHTS

A poetic and beautifully written novel.

In Skin and Bones we follow 40 year old Lena as she deals with family, identity and even loss.

Lena's story takes us on a journey of understanding what life is like as a plus size black woman in the US. This story has deepened my appreciation for the importance of self love. Lena would not have been able to face her trials unless she accepted and loved herself.

I love how the author managed also to include some black history in the book. She was clever to weave it into a project that Lena was working on. That part was excellent skillful writing. I really enjoyed this one.

Book Review: The Housemaid by Freida Mc Fadden

 ABOUT

“Welcome to the family,” Nina Winchester says as I shake her elegant, manicured hand. I smile politely, gazing around the marble hallway. Working here is my last chance to start fresh. I can pretend to be whoever I like. But I’ll soon learn that the Winchesters’ secrets are far more dangerous than my own…

Every day I clean the Winchesters’ beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.

I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband.

I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out… and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late.

But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don’t know who I really am.

They don’t know what I’m capable of…

An unbelievably twisty read that will have you glued to the pages late into the night. Anyone who loves The Woman in the Window, The Wife Between Us and The Girl on the Train won’t be able to put this down!

MY THOUGHTS

Finally finished this one. What a story this was!!!

Freida Mc Fadden is definitely my go to author because I haven't read a bad book from her yet.

In The Housemaid we meet Millie a young woman recently released from prison, who is down on her luck as she had been getting trouble finding stable employment. Imagine her excitement to get a job offer as a live in maid for the wealthy Winchester family.

Nina Winchester was a boss from hell. Her erratic behaviour was indeed strange her daughter Cecelia a brat. Her husband Andrew appeared to Millie to be dealing with a lot.

As Millie and Andrew becomes close, Millie has no idea how many secrets are about to be revealed....dangerous secrets.

This story is one that will keep you up late at night. I enjoyed this one a lot.

Book Review: Curvy Girl Summer by Danielle Allen

 

About:

Bridget Jones’s Diary meets Survival of the Thickest in Danielle Allen’s CURVY GIRL SUMMER, a smoking-hot, hilarious novel about the perils of online dating.

Aaliyah is determined to celebrate her thirtieth birthday with a boyfriend. And after a failed blind date, the local bartender, Ahmad, suggests she joins a dating app.

Filled with lies, catfish, and fetishizing, the wild world of online dating makes Aaliyah think she’s in over her head.

And she is. But with her two best friends and a protective bartender by her side, what could go wrong?

Everything.

Everything could go wrong.

And that’s the problem.

Because as Aaliyah is set on finding exactly what she’s looking for, she ends up finding something she never expects.

MY THOUGHTS

Well guys. I finally finished this one.

Aaliyah was turning 30 but she didn't want her thirtieth birthday to come without having a date for her birthday party. Her family wanted her to get a life partner, her uncle even expressed concerns that the reason for not having a person was that she was a few pounds to heavy.

While navigating the dating Apps and going on numerous dates, Aaliyah befriends bartender Ahmad, who is handsome but "married" at least that is what she thinks. Their relationship takes us on an interesting ride throughout the book.

I liked this book because it is not often that you get to see a plus size main character in a romance. It was interesting to get the perspective of how curvier girls get viewed by men. The only minor thing is that I felt it should have been a bit shorter in the middle. The birthday party scene at the end made up for that though.

Fun and romantic. You can give this one a try.

House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen

 

About

The next thrilling novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah Pekkanen, House of Glass.

On the outside they were the golden family with the perfect life. On the inside they built the perfect lie.

A young nanny who plunged to her death, or was she pushed? A nine-year-old girl who collects sharp objects and refuses to speak. A lawyer whose job it is to uncover who in the family is a victim and who is a murderer. But how can you find out the truth when everyone here is lying?

Rose Barclay is a nine-year-old girl who witnessed the possible murder of her nanny - in the midst of her parent's bitter divorce - and immediately stopped speaking. Stella Hudson is a best interest attorney, appointed to serve as counsel for children in custody cases. She never accepts clients under thirteen due to her own traumatic childhood, but Stella's mentor, a revered judge, believes Stella is the only one who can help.

From the moment Stella passes through the iron security gate and steps into the gilded, historic DC home of the Barclays, she realizes the case is even more twisted, and the Barclay family far more troubled, than she feared. And there's something eerie about the house itself: It's a plastic house, with not a single bit of glass to be found.

As Stella comes closer to uncovering the secrets the Barclays are desperate to hide, danger wraps around her like a shroud, and her past and present are set on a collision course in ways she never expected. Everyone is a suspect in the nanny's murder. The mother, the father, the grandmother, the nanny's boyfriend. Even Rose. Is the person Stella's supposed to protect the one she may need protection from?

My Thoughts

This book was a mystery thriller that followed Stella a BIA attorney with a strange case and a past. She works for the best interest of children. Her latest case is a high profile one where a nanny working for a rich family mysteriously fell out of a glass window to her untimely death.

The Barclays are a family with secrets, this Stella realises and their daughter Rose who is suffering from traumatic mutism seems to be the most strange of them all. Stella is drawn to this case for more personal reasons as she too suffered from a similar situation to that of Rose. Where her past and present collide takes the reader on a path to want to read on.

This book had some shocking twists and was enjoyable.

Book Review: The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine

 

About:

Some women get everything. Some women get everything they deserve.

Amber Patterson is fed up. She’s tired of being a nobody: a plain, invisible woman who blends into the background. She deserves more—a life of money and power like the one blond-haired, blue-eyed goddess Daphne Parrish takes for granted.

To everyone in the exclusive town of Bishops Harbor, Connecticut, Daphne—a socialite and philanthropist—and her real-estate mogul husband, Jackson, are a couple straight out of a fairy tale.

Amber’s envy could eat her alive . . . if she didn't have a plan. Amber uses Daphne’s compassion and caring to insinuate herself into the family’s life—the first step in a meticulous scheme to undermine her. Before long, Amber is Daphne’s closest confidante, traveling to Europe with the Parrishes and their lovely young daughters, and growing closer to Jackson. But a skeleton from her past may undermine everything that Amber has worked towards, and if it is discovered, her well-laid plan may fall to pieces. 

With shocking turns and dark secrets that will keep you guessing until the very end, The Last Mrs. Parrish is a fresh, juicy, and utterly addictive thriller from a diabolically imaginative talent.

My Thoughts 

Wow!! This book was an emotional rollercoaster.

Amber was a young woman with a mission to be riçh no matter what it takes. She wanted the life she craved for since childhood. Daphne Parrish had that life. Daphne had the rich handsome Jackson and two perfect children.

Amber wanted.that by any means neccessary.
Amber befriended Daphne and little by little got her hooks into Jackson. She thought that she hit the jackpot. Little does she know everything is not as it seems.

This story had me on edge. I went through varying stages of anger, sadness and even happiness especially towards the end. A lot of women are like Amber. They are hell bent on destroying a marriage. When you read the story you will definitely get a new meaning to the phrase the grass isnt always greener.

Jackson....well you will definitely have a lot to.say about him. I dont want to give any spoilers.

This is a good book. I'm off to read the new release. The Next Mrs. PARRISH

Book Review: A Trace of Sun by Pam Williams

 

About:

‘Don’t go Mammy please.’ Stuttered words filled her ears, sent frissons of guilt through her as she bent over him; held him to her thumping chest. Tears sliding from her face to his.Raef is left behind in Grenada when his mother, Cilla, follows her husband to England in search of a better life. When they are finally reunited seven years later, they are strangers – and the emotional impact of the separation leads to events that rip their family apart. As they try to move forward with their lives, his mother’s secret will make Raef question all he’s ever known of who he is.

A Trace of Sun is, in part, inspired by the author’s own family experiences.

My Thoughts

This book was interesting to me for a number of reasons. First, some of the best Caribbean novels for me are the ones that speak to migration. In A Trace of Sun we meet Cilla, from Grenada who is patiently waiting for the day that her husband sends for her and the kids to join him in England. When the letter comes she is excited, however upon realizing that she had to leave her eight year old son Raef behind meets her with sadness. Raef could not understand why his younger brother Davey and not him could go.

The second thing I loved about this book is how the story follows the family from the 1960s all the way to the 1990s. We experience their triumphs and many sorrows as they navigate life in a foreign land. This aspect of the book was well written.

Raef's character was a lot to deal with. The reader really felt for him. I also felt for Luci the younger sister and Cilla. This family grappled with a lot. And the explosive secret really added to the intrigue of this family saga.

All in all it was a good book.

Book Review: A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams \

 

About:

An epic love story one hundred years in the making…

Leap years are a strange, enchanted time. And for some, even a single February can be life-changing.

Ricki Wilde has many talents, but being a Wilde isn’t one of them. As the impulsive, artistic daughter of a powerful Atlanta dynasty, she’s the opposite of her famous socialite sisters. Where they’re long-stemmed roses, she’s a dandelion: an adorable bloom that’s actually a weed, born to float wherever the wind blows. In her bones, Ricki knows that somewhere, a different, more exciting life awaits her.

When regal nonagenarian, Ms. Della, invites her to rent the bottom floor of her Harlem brownstone, Ricki jumps at the chance for a fresh beginning. She leaves behind her family, wealth, and chaotic romantic decisions to realize her dream of opening a flower shop. And just beneath the surface of her new neighborhood, the music, stories and dazzling drama of the Harlem Renaissance still simmers.

One evening in February as the heady, curiously off-season scent of night-blooming jasmine fills the air, Ricki encounters a handsome, deeply mysterious stranger who knocks her world off balance in the most unexpected way.

Set against the backdrop of modern Harlem and Renaissance glamour, A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is a swoon-worthy love story of two passionate artists drawn to the magic, romance, and opportunity of New York, and whose lives are uniquely and irreversibly linked.

My Thoughts

It has been a minute since I enjoyed a good romance novel. Tia did her thing with this book. In the story we meet Ricki Wilde. Ricki belongs to a prominent family but unlike her father and her older sisters, she always fall short of the high expectations.

Ricki is intent on finding her own way in life and due to a chance encounter with a woman by the name of Della, Ricki is getting an opportunity to open a flowershop in Harlem. Harlem is a magical city, and Ricki soon finds out when she meets Ezra. He is handsome, mysterious and he has a secret that could be DEADLY.

This romance was magical and unique. The story was unlike what I would have expected and for me this made for a rich reading experience. A MUST read.

Book Review: Who Asked You? by Terry Mc Millan

 About:

From the #1  New York Times bestselling author…“Remember Getting to Happy , Waiting to Exhale , and How Stella Got Her Groove Back? Well, you won’t likely forget Terry McMillan’s Who Asked You?  either” ( Raleigh News & Observer ).

Betty Jean already has her hands full when her grown daughter leaves her two young sons in her care. In between dealing with her other adult children, two opinionated sisters, an ill husband, and her own postponed dreams—BJ still manages to hold down a job delivering room service at a hotel.

Her son Dexter is about to be paroled from prison; Quentin, the family success, can’t be bothered to lend a hand; and taking care of two lively grandsons is the last thing BJ thinks she needs. But who asked her?

My Thoughts:

After reading this I can now see why a few of Terry McMillan's books are movies. This title would have made a nice movie as well. In Who Asked You? we meet Betty Jean a mother and grandmother with a lot on her plate. Her daughter Trinetta, a drug addict left behind her two kids and disappeared without a trace.

Betty Jean now has the responsibility of raising two young boys, while having to take care of an ailing husband. Between this and dealing with her other two children Quentin (estranged because he thinks he is better than everyone else) and Dexter who is serving time in prison, Betty Jean keeps wondering where it all went wrong in life because she didn't ask for all this.

Apart from her children we also meet Betty Jean's two sisters Arlene and Venetia who also have problems woth kids and marriage as well. This book speaks about motherhood, family relationships and even forgiveness. I absolutely loved this book and I am going to definitely find and read her other books.

Dust Child by Nguyen Phan Que Mai

 

ABOUT

In 1969, sisters Trang and Quỳnh, desperate to help their parents pay off debts, leave their rural village and become “bar girls” in Sài Gòn, drinking, flirting (and more) with American GIs in return for money. As the war moves closer to the city, the once-innocent Trang gets swept up in an irresistible romance with a young and charming American helicopter pilot, Dan. Decades later, Dan returns to Việt Nam with his wife, Linda, hoping to find a way to heal from his PTSD and, unbeknownst to her, reckon with secrets from his past.

At the same time, Phong—the son of a Black American soldier and a Vietnamese woman—embarks on a search to find both his parents and a way out of Việt Nam. Abandoned in front of an orphanage, Phong grew up being called “the dust of life,” “Black American imperialist,” and “child of the enemy,” and he dreams of a better life for himself and his family in the U.S.

Past and present converge as these characters come together to confront decisions made during a time of war—decisions that force them to look deep within and find common ground across race, generation, culture, and language. Suspenseful, poetic, and perfect for readers of Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko or Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing, Dust Child tells an unforgettable and immersive story of how those who inherited tragedy can redefine their destinies through love, hard-earned wisdom, compassion, courage, and joy.

My Thoughts

Amazing!!!

This author definitely knows how to write a story that would evoke every single emotion out of you. Her writing is also very educational and informative at least in my view because after reading The Mountains Sing and now Dust Child I now have a greater appreciation for the casualties of the Vietnam war.

In Dust Child we meet several characters the most notable Phong who we learn early on, simply by his appearance that he is what they call an Ameriasian. His dream was to go to the US for a better life and to uncover who his birth parents were. This book focuses Phong's struggles and he had many.

We also meet Dan an ex soldier who has a secret that has been haunting him his entire life. Dan has PTSD, but he also had a secret involving a young Vietnamese women named Trang aka Kim that he withheld from his wife Linda.

This book was well written. This story had an element of everything, sorrow, pain and even joy. Every emotion you can feel you will in this book. I highly recommend this.

Brooklyn by Tracy Brown

 

About:

Tracy Brown crafts a tale about a master manipulator and serial survivor, who will scorch earth to get what she wants. The question isn’t who murdered her; the question is who wouldn’t?

Brooklyn Melody James has finally gotten the punishment she deserves after leaving a web of lies, heartache, and betrayal behind her. As her life slips away, Brooklyn remembers the events that shaped her into the cold, calculating creature she became.

Brooklyn learned the art of hustling from her parents who used the church to get money. Idolizing her father and despising her mother, Brooklyn’s determined to be the type of woman who makes her own rules. When her back’s up against the wall, she sacrifices her family, takes the burnt offering that remains, and runs away. In NYC, young Brooklyn charms her way into the inner circle of hustlers and stick-up kids, learning tricks along the way. She catches the eye of a major player in the drug game, Hassan, and they have a breathless love affair. Brooklyn becomes integrated into his operation, earning the trust of Hassan and his associates. But when she gets the keys to the kingdom, driven by unfettered ambition and a ruthless desire to survive, Brooklyn snatches the pot of gold, leaving bitter retribution promises behind her.

From DC to Maryland, Brooklyn burns bridges and breaks hearts. What she doesn't realize is that someone is prepared to end her reign of terror. As she faces her killer and her fate, Brooklyn’s stunned that justice comes from the least likely place.

My Thoughts

I have been a Gillian Flynn fan since reading both Gone Girl and Dark Places. Sharp Objects did not disappoint at all.

Camille Preaker was a journalist with a PAST. A past that she sought to get far away from by living and working in Chicago. A story about the mysterious and gruesome death of two little girls in her home town of Wind Gap made her end up back HOME. A place where she had no desire to go back to.

Camille's return home was not a welcome sight for her mother Adora with whom she shared a very strained relationship. Upon returning and meeting her half sister Amma, Camille soon realized that everything in Wind Gap is not as they seem. Something was amiss...When the truth is revealed however, only the strong will survive. Meanwhile Camille had many demons that she grappled with.

This story was dark, emotional with some level of trauma. Camille, Amma and Adora's characters were do complex but the author really brought them to life.

This was a well written book. Definitely a MUST read.

Book Review: Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

 ABOUT:

Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. 

For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family's Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims — a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming.

My Thoughts 

I have been a Gillian Flynn fan since reading both Gone Girl and Dark Places. Sharp Objects did not disappoint at all.

Camille Preaker was a journalist with a PAST. A past that she was intent on getting away from by living and working in Chicago. A story about the mysterious and gruesome death of two little girls in her home town of Wind Gap made her end up back HOME. A place where she had no desire to return to.

Camille's return home was not a welcome sight for her mother Adora with whom she shared a very strained relationship. Upon returning and meeting her half sister Amma, Camille soon realized that everything in Wind Gap is not as they seem. Something was amiss...When the truth is revealed however, only the strong will survive. Meanwhile Camille had many demons that she grappled with.

This story was dark, emotional with some level of trauma. Camille, Amma and Adora's characters were do complex but the author really brought them to life.

This was a well written book. Definitely a MUST read.

Book Review: The Locked Door by Freida Mc Fadden

 

About:

Some doors are locked for a reason…

While eleven-year-old Nora Davis was up in her bedroom doing homework, she had no idea her father was killing women in the basement.

Until the day the police arrived at their front door.

Decades later, Nora’s father is spending his life behind bars, and Nora is a successful surgeon with a quiet, solitary existence. Nobody knows her father was a notorious serial killer. And she intends to keep it that way.

Then Nora discovers one of her young female patients has been murdered. In the same unique and horrific manner that her father used to kill his victims.

Somebody knows who Nora is. Somebody wants her to take the fall for this unthinkable crime. But she’s not a killer like her father. The police can’t pin anything on her.

As long as they don’t look in her basement.

My Thoughts

This was another page turner by Mc Fadden. This, like the two I read before is full of suspense and jaw dropping twists.

"Locked Doors are never good." Nora knows that all too well. What she discovered in the basement of her home at age 11, changed her life forever and her relationship with her father Aaron Nearling (who as it turned out, was leading a double life.)

Twenty six years later, Nora, a doctor, is intent on keeping the past in the past. Her past soon catches up with her with a strange chain of events. It lead her to question is someone knew who she was? Or what her father did all those years ago.

In piecing everything together, readers are taken down a rough path to uncover the truth. Let me tell you though, the revelations will leave you shook. I was again very impressed with everything in this story.

I recommend this.

Book Review: The Lost Love Songs of Boysie Singh by Ingrid Persaud

 

ABOUT|

This is the tale of four women.

Popo: brilliant, vulnerable and stuck. She's determined to free herself from the traps of her past.

Mana Lala: a devoted mother - her only connection to her man is their little boy, and she will do anything to keep them close.

For Doris, well he's glorious and once she's licked him into shape, her husband presents an opportunity to climb the social ladder. She's heard the awful stories, but she's sure they won't be hers.

Rosie just wants to mind her business, her lover, Etty, and her store.

Four lives, connected and controlled by one man: the notorious, charismatic gangster Boysie Singh. Pull up a chair and let these women tell of the man they believed could love, help or free them, and how some of them survived to tell a tale at all.

MY THOUGHTS

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

I like everything about this book. 

In this book we meet the notorious Trinidadian crime boss of the 1950s Boysie Singh. Boysie is a criminal in the truest sense of the word his crimes were everything from murder, smuggling and gambling. In the book, his life story was told in a very unique and creative way through four women (Popo, Mana Lala, Doris and Rosie) who were connected to Boysie in a way that was different to most people which was their love for him.

Boysie was bad and all four women were willing to do anything for his love at some point. Popo's story was the most sad of all I think. She genuinely loved Boysie and realized too late that the feeling was not mutual. Popo represents many women even today in relationships who support men who just take them for granted. At least though Popo was willing to do something about it unlike his child mother Mana Lala.

When I say each woman represents women in general is no lie. Cause Mana Lala loved Boysie more than life itself that she just sat her whole life waiting for him to love her back. This character frustrated me the most I think cause Boysie did not care one bit for this woman and there she was always waiting...

Doris was the wife who I also thought something was wrong with. She could have had a good life but fell for the glamourous part of Boysie. The club owner who had the nice suits and big money. He used her "Redness" to fit in to high society.

Them there was Rosie. Rosie's connection to Boysie went way back before these other women. She became reconnected with him when he began taking rent for her shop and when she wanted answers for the death of her lover Etty. The end of this will have you shook.

Boysie Singh was an interesting character. Although he was a criminal, he also had a human side too. He loved his son Chunksee a lot and although throughout the book he was a crook at his best, it was also good at times to see he was human too.

I love books by Trinidadian authors that use the language of the people, this is what made this book even more special for me. Love After Love was also a great book.

I am anticipating the next book by Ms. Persaud.

Book Review: Maame by Jessica George

 

About:

Shortlisted for the TikTok Book Awards in the Book of the Year, 2023 and the Goodreads Debut and Fiction Book of the Year, 2023.

It’s fair to say that Maddie’s life in London is far from rewarding. With a mother who spends most of her time in Ghana (yet still somehow manages to be overbearing), Maddie is the primary caretaker for her father, who suffers from advanced stage Parkinson’s. At work, her boss is a nightmare and Maddie is tired of always being the only Black person in every meeting.

When her mum returns from her latest trip to Ghana, Maddie leaps at the chance to get out of the family home and finally start living. A self-acknowledged late bloomer, she’s ready to experience some important “firsts”: She finds a flat share, says yes to after-work drinks, pushes for more recognition in her career, and throws herself into the bewildering world of internet dating. But it's not long before tragedy strikes, forcing Maddie to face the true nature of her unconventional family, and the perils—and rewards—of putting her life on the line.

Smart, funny, and deeply affecting, Jessica George's Maame deals with the themes of our time with humor and poignancy: from familial duty and racism, to female pleasure, the complexity of love, and the life-saving power of friendship. Most important, it explores what it feels like to be torn between two homes and cultures―and it celebrates finally being able to find where you belong.

My Thoughts:

In Maame we follow Madeline Wright (Maame) a 25 year old woman, of Ghanaian heritage who is a late bloomer. Maddie is this way , mainly because she, although being the last child in her family had the responsibility to take care of her ailing father. But as she navigates her life and struggles, she began craving independence, the kind that comes with young adulthood i.e. living with flatmates, having a boyfriend and other fun things. In the book we get to see Maddie come to her own.

What I liked about this book is that it touched on the issue of dealing with grief and depression. I liked how the author unpacked Maddie's grief by taking us through the stages. Maddie's grief emphasized the reality which is that everyone grieves differently. I have always been a believer of that. Apart from that Madeline's relationships (friends, family, coworkers, flatmates) were interesting especially her relationship with her mother, who by far was the most interesting character in the story. I began really disliking her but after reading on a bit I saw that she had a story to tell.

Overall this was a good story, very well written.

Book Review: Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins Valdez

 

Inspired by true events that rocked the nation, a profoundly moving novel about a Black nurse in post-segregation Alabama who blows the whistle on a terrible wrong done to her patients, from the New York Times bestselling author of Wench.

Montgomery, Alabama 1973. Fresh out of nursing school, Civil Townsend has big plans to make a difference, especially in her African American community. At the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic, she intends to help women make their own choices for their lives and bodies.

But when her first week on the job takes her down a dusty country road to a worn down one-room cabin, she’s shocked to learn that her new patients are children—just 11 and 13 years old. Neither of the Williams sisters has even kissed a boy, but they are poor and Black and for those handling the family’s welfare benefits that’s reason enough to have the girls on birth control. As Civil grapples with her role, she takes India, Erica and their family into her heart. Until one day, she arrives at the door to learn the unthinkable has happened and nothing will ever be the same for any of them.

Decades later, with her daughter grown and a long career in her wake, Dr. Civil Townsend is ready to retire, to find her peace and to leave the past behind. But there are people and stories that refuse to be forgotten. That must not be forgotten.

Because history repeats what we don’t remember.

MY THOUGHTS

A few years ago I learned about the Tuskegee study and I was mortified. Now reading this book and now learning that it was loosely based on a true story made me pause. In "Take My Hand", we meet Civil Townsend, a black nurse working for a family planning clinic in Montgomery Alabama. Excited to prove herself in her new role, Civil was eager to do her work with passion and efficiency. However, upon realising that Depo Provera shots was being administered  to children from low income homes from as low as twelve years of age, she became concerned.

Civil's concern grew upon meeting the Williams' sisters Erica and India, both of whom were much too young (12 and 13) respectively to receive the shot of Depo Provera. After once administering the shot, this did not sit well with the new nurse Civil, who after some research realised that this situation was a ticking time bomb. Civil began a quest to right some wrongs and in so doing this led to a series of events that took the reader on a whirlwind of emotions.

Again I cannot say it enough, one of my favourite genres to read are historical fiction novels mainly because it makes you think about the past, the things different people went through and even the future. Take My Hand is a MUST READ, there were all the elements of a solid tale wrapped in one, and reading that it was loosely based on true events, well for me at least. made it even better. Civil represented what a nurse should be and if you read this you would definitely connect with her character.

A well written and well put together novel. I will definitely recommend this.