Memphis: A Novel by Tara M. Stringfellow

 Publisher: The Dial Press Pages:272

From Amazon:

    Summer 1995: Ten-year-old Joan, her mother, and her younger sister flee her father’s explosive temper and seek refuge at her mother’s ancestral home in Memphis. This is not the first time violence has altered the course of the family’s trajectory. Half a century earlier, Joan’s grandfather built this majestic house in the historic Black neighborhood of Douglass—only to be lynched days after becoming the first Black detective in the city. Joan tries to settle into her new life, but family secrets cast a longer shadow than any of them expected.

As she grows up, Joan finds relief in her artwork, painting portraits of the community in Memphis. One of her subjects is their enigmatic neighbor Miss Dawn, who claims to know something about curses, and whose stories about the past help Joan see how her passion, imagination, and relentless hope are, in fact, the continuation of a long matrilineal tradition. Joan begins to understand that her mother, her mother’s mother, and the mothers before them persevered, made impossible choices, and put their dreams on hold so that her life would not have to be defined by loss and anger—that the sole instrument she needs for healing is her paintbrush.

Unfolding over seventy years through a chorus of unforgettable voices that move back and forth in time, Memphis paints an indelible portrait of inheritance, celebrating the full complexity of what we pass down, in a family and as a country: brutality and justice, faith and forgiveness, sacrifice and love.

My Thoughts:

    This book is hard to put down. The author has a beautiful writing style. She can paint a million pictures with a simple sentence. This is a beautiful story of 4 generations of women living in the family home in a Memphis neighborhood. It is a story of family, sisters, and the struggles that single mothers face.It is a story of survival. It is a story of finding one's own truth and following one's dreams. I loved this book and I look forward to reading more books by this author.

Read this book if....

    *you love African-American literary fiction

    *you love southern fiction
    *you  love stories about sisterhood & family
    *you love family sagas

The Almost Sisters by: Joshilyn Jackson

The Almost Sisters Author: Joshilyn Jackson Publisher: William Morrow Pages: 384

From Amazon:

Superheroes have always been Leia Birch Briggs’s weakness. One tequila-soaked night at a comic-book convention, Leia is swept off her barstool by a handsome, anonymous Batman. She remembers he was tall, black, and an excellent French kisser—but not much else.

The Caped Crusader leaves her with more than just a fond, fuzzy memory. She’s having a baby. Though Leia always wanted to fall in love and have a child, as a young woman she learned exactly what betrayal felt like. Before Leia can break the news of her impending single-motherhood to her conventional lily-white Southern family, her perfect stepsister Rachel’s marriage—to the very man who broke Leia’s heart all those years ago—implodes. Worse, she learns her beloved ninety-year-old grandmother, Birchie, has been hiding her dementia.

Heading seven hundred miles south to Birchville, Alabama—the small town her family founded generations ago—Leia plans to put her grandmother’s affairs in order and clean out her big Victorian house. Just when Leia thinks she’s got it all under control, she learns that Birchie is hiding more than her illness. A dangerous secret with roots that reach back to the Civil War is tucked away in an attic trunk. Its exposure threatens the family’s reputation and freedom, and will forever change the way Leia views her ancestors, herself, and her baby’s future.

This book is about as honest as it gets when it comes to viewing the south as it really is. I don't mean how outsiders see it. I don't mean how we wish it was. I mean as it is. I'm not a fan of comics, so I wasn't much into that aspect, but I love how it all ties in together. This book is a beautiful story of family and race relations in the modern south as seen through the eyes of a 38-year-old white woman, a comic nerd (her words), who is pregnant with a bi-racial child. When her grandmother becomes ill, she travels to the small town of Birchville, Alabama with the intention of shutting down and selling out the family home. Instead, she uncovers a terrible family secret that changes the way she sees herself, her family, and her own unborn child. I don't want to include spoilers. I will just say that I could not put this one down. It has been a long time since I have read a book that didn't bore me.I highly recommend this book.

Read this book if:

*you love southern fiction

*you love mysteries

*you love family fiction/ sisters

*you love stories about race and race relations

Flight of the Sparrow

Title: Flight of the Sparrow Author: Amy Belding Brown Publisher: Penguin Pages:331

From Amazon:

She suspects that she has changed too much to ever fit easily into English society again. The wilderness has now become her home. She can interpret the cries of birds. She has seen vistas that have stolen away her breath. She has learned to live in a new, free way.... 

Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1676. Even before Mary Rowlandson was captured by Indians on a winter day of violence and terror, she sometimes found herself in conflict with her rigid Puritan community. Now, her home destroyed, her children lost to her, she has been sold into the service of a powerful woman tribal leader, made a pawn in the ongoing bloody struggle between English settlers and native people. Battling cold, hunger, and exhaustion, Mary witnesses harrowing brutality but also unexpected kindness. To her confused surprise, she is drawn to her captors’ open and straightforward way of life, a feeling further complicated by her attraction to a generous, protective English-speaking native known as James Printer. All her life, Mary has been taught to fear God, submit to her husband, and abhor Indians. Now, having lived on the other side of the forest, she begins to question the edicts that have guided her, torn between the life she knew and the wisdom the natives have shown her.

Based on the compelling true narrative of Mary Rowlandson, Flight of the Sparrow is an evocative tale that transports the reader to a little-known time in early America and explores the real meanings of freedom, faith, and acceptance.

I will be honest. I just couldn't deal with the gore and violence of this book. I am sure it is historically correct, and therefore, I place the blame with me, the reader- not the author. The author has produced a well-written account. I just can't take the violence and gore. However, enthusiasts of this time period would probably love this book. It's just a little too violent and graphic for me.

Read this book if...

*you love historical novels

*you love novels of early America

*graphic violence and gore don't bother you

Nora Bonesteel's Christmas Past by Sharyn McCrumb

Title: Nora Bonesteel's Christmas Past Author: Sharyn McCrumb Publisher: Abingdon Fiction, 2014 Pages: 157

When I saw this book, I knew I had to read it. I am a huge fan of Sharyn McCrumb's Ballad Novels, and I dearly love Appalachian fiction. Although this is a bit different from McCrumb's other novels, it is still a pretty good book. I LOVE that she goes into detail about how the original Appalachian people celebrated Christmas. (One thing I love about Sharyn McCrumb is that she values and celebrates the Appalachian culture.)
I was expecting a great deal of suspense- McCrumb's other works keep you on the edge of your seat. This one was more easy going. It did point out the difference in the natives of Appalachia and the summer people. Their lack of appreciation and understanding of the native culture is well illustrated here.
Mostly this book meanders slowly through two separate plots- a summer family has renovated a local mansion and feels that it is haunted. They seek Nora's psychic abilities to remedy the situation. Meanwhile, Sheriff Spencer Arrowwood and Deputy Joe LeDonne must serve a warrant on Christmas Eve in an area that is not known for its appreciation of the legal system.
Fans of McCrumb will not find the usual suspense, but they will find familiar characters in a light-hearted novella.

Read this book if...
*You love Sharyn McCrumb's other works
*You love southern fiction
*You love Appalachian fiction
*You love Christmas stories

Ghosts of America 5,6, & 7 by: Nona Lautner

Title(s): Ghosts of America 5,6,&7 Author: Nina Lautner (Kindle Editions)

I chose to review these together since they are all pretty much the same format and I read them back-to-back.  I enjoyed each of these books. As soon as I finished one, I ordered another. The books consist of true accounts of paranormal experiences from everyday people who send their stories to the Ghosts of America website.
 For the most part, these stories are entertaining and interesting. Of course, there are the occaisional stories that fall flat due to the writing style of the contributor. (I just LOVE (NOT) the ones that say "and there was even more, but I will save that for another time...") Another time??? Hello?? If it is a part of the story, tell it now! Fortunately, these minor irritations are few and far between. For the most part, these stories are sincere and well- told. A must for the lover of true paranormal.

 

Ghosts of America- Deep South by: Nina Lautner

Title: Ghosts of America - Deep South Author: Nina Lautner Publisher: Amazon Digital Services Pages: 193

As a fan of true paranormal stories and a lover of any stories that take place in the south, I had to try this book. I was not disappointed! The stories range from intriguing to downright scary. I recommend this book to anyone who loves true ghost stories. 

The Oleander Sisters by: Elaine Hussey

Title: The Oleander Sisters Author: Elaine Hussey Publisher: Harlequin Mira Publication date: 2014 Pages: 338

In August, 1969, Biloxi Mississippi prepares itself for disaster as Hurricane Camille lurks on the horizon. As Beth (Sis) Blake and her family prepare themselves for Camille's approach, a disaster of another kind poses even more threat. Beth's sister, Emily, is engaged to marry a man that everyone else despises. Where Emily sees a new start for herself and her illegitimate son, her family sees evil lurking behind a too-slick smile.
Sis has been self-appointed caretaker and guardian for her younger siblings, Emily and Jim, since their parents died in a car crash when Sis was fourteen. Raised by their grandmother, Sweet Mama, and her best friend Beulah, the three Blakes grew up in a pink Victorian by the sea and in Sweet Mama's Bakery/ Cafe. Sis has put aside her own dreams in order to make sure Emily and Jim achieve theirs. Now it is 1969 and, as Emily embarks on her own wedding, Sis sees her own chances at love slowly fading away. Will the return of a childhood friend bring fresh hope?
As Camille lurks on the horizon, Sis' life is turned upside down. Jim returns from Vietnam and is no longer the brother she once knew. Emily is hiding more than fresh bruises, and, scariest of all, Sis discovers human bones buried beneath the roses in Sweet Mama's yard!
When tragedy strikes and Emily's life hangs in the balance, the Blakes pull together against Larry, against Camille, and against long-buried family secrets.

I enjoyed this book. I was immediately drawn into the story with Sis' horrifying discovery underneath the roses. Although the outcome is fairly predictable, the story is still enjoyable and the characters are likable. I loved the strong women in the story and the strong devotion to family. Both of these are true southern characteristics. The story was both suspenseful and heartwarming. A great beach or vacation read, I recommend this story to lovers of southern fiction.

Read this story if....
*you love southern fiction
* you love stories of family
*you love stories about strong women