When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen

 

This is a short novel, but it packs a wallop. When the Reckoning Comes takes place in a small Southern town where Mia has returned reluctantly to attend her childhood best friend's wedding. Mia had escaped Kipsen ten years before, along with the horrifying memory of a trip to Woodsman, an abandoned plantation deep in the woods. 

Mia doesn't want to return but Celine, her only white friend growing up, calls and begs her to attend. Celine, Mia, and Jesse all grew up poor and on the outs with the kids of Kipsen. Celine and Jesse stayed, and now Celine is marrying a rich man at the newly renovated Woodsman plantation. 

Mia arrives, and is horrified by what she sees at the plantation: all black servers, reenactments of slave labor, and a basic white-washing of all the terrible history of Woodsman Plantation. Rumors of ghosts of the slaves still abound, and it's definitely a place that looks beautiful but is rotten at the core. There have been a few weird deaths on or near the plantation over the years, and rumors that the slaves have returned from the dead to exact revenge on townspeople who are descended from the white people who worked and lived at the plantation. Can they be true? And what does Mia believe?

As the wedding morning arrives, Celine is missing from her room and no one can find her. Tensions start to rise, and Jesse and Mia frantically try to figure out what happened to Celine, all the while conscious of supernatural activities ramping up. It appears the ghosts have arrived, and they are angry.

This was truly a spooky read. The horrors of the plantation and the absolute depravity of plantation owner Roman Woodsman made me cringe a few times. The anger of the dead slaves is palpable, and wow I'd be bent on revenge, too. After all, it is said their blood soaked into the soil and has remained there all this time. Not even graves for those who died. 

It's short, brutal, and oh so good. Wow. A powerful novel about slavery, the attempts we have today to gloss over the horror of it; the way it decays a town and poisons generations. The tension in this novel slowly bumps up until your heart just about leaps out of your chest. 

I haven't read horror for a bit, and this was a great way to dip my toe back into this genre. History and horror are an interesting mix. 

Rating: 5/6 for a terrifying novel about revenge, racism, the afterlife, and how true history will always comes out. Some things should be left to rot in the woods. 

Available in paperback, ebook, and audio. 

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When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen

America's First Daughter by Stephanie Dray & Laura Kamoie

It felt so good to get back into historical fiction!  I've been reading a lot of contemporary fiction and non-fiction, and usually historical is what I read above and beyond anything else.  Somehow I got turned around, but I will be changing that up and incorporating more historical fiction reviews.   

America's First Daughter is a 580 page novel about Martha "Patsy" Jefferson Randolph, the eldest child and one of only two surviving children of Thomas Jefferson and his wife, Martha Jefferson.  Tall and red-headed like her father, Patsy lead a life that was full of triumphs, tragedies, and sacrifice. Erica Kane has nothing on Patsy.  Seriously, this woman couldn't catch a break. 

The novel is based on the thousands of letters Thomas Jefferson wrote in his lifetime, and opens with Patsy going through her father's letters after his death, burning many of them in order to shape his history--and protect him and others in the family.  Each chapter begins with part of an actual letter written by Jefferson to either his family or one of his many friends and political allies.  They help frame what is to come in that chapter.  Patsy's love and devotion to her father drives pretty much her every decision, beginning with the death of her mother when she was just a young girl.  Jefferson, devastated and near suicidal after his wife's death, leans on Patsy to guide him through his grief.  She sees herself as his protector, and as Governor of Virginia, no one must know just how much Jefferson has descended to near madness.  Patsy has to shoulder a lot of burdens early on in life, and while I was hopeful this would change, oh, I was wrong.  

This novel takes the reader from Monticello (which is always in a state of construction, falling down, never completeness) to Paris, during Jefferson's tenure as Minister to France for a newly formed America, and back again to Monticello.  Told through Patsy's eyes, we see her grow up, grow strong, and find love.  But the course of true love does not run smoothly for Patsy, and her heart is broken.  Patsy does marry Thomas Randolph, and eventually gives birth to eleven children; ten of whom survive to adulthood.  I think that is just remarkable.  But beyond her superwoman ability to survive childbirth that many times in the early 19th century, is Patsy's strength in understanding that her father was someone who gave his whole life to his country, even at the cost of personal happiness.  And Patsy did the same thing, in devoting her life to her father.  Sally Hemings plays a large role in this novel as well; she was Patsy's Aunt, if I followed the convoluted family tree.  Her  maternal grandfather was Sally's father; Sally's children by Thomas Jefferson were Patsy's siblings.  Phew. Confusing.  This was a big issue between Jefferson and Patsy, and the struggle Patsy goes through to understand why and come to peace with Sally runs throughout the novel.  If I got anything from this novel, it was to be careful what you ask of others, and what you promise a dying loved one. It can trap you and haunt you the rest of your life.

This novel had me stopping and Googling everyone I read about:  Patsy, Jefferson, Thomas Randolph, William Short, Sally Hemings and children....I spent a lot of time reading about them.  I am always a bit hesitant to read historical fiction based on real people because inevitably there is something completely out of left field that isn't true.  As a history gal, I hate to think people will read historical fiction and believe every bit of it is true.  Patsy's relationship with William Short is something that may or may not be true; it makes for a good plot movement in this novel, but I can't find anything factual that ever mentions the two of them as lovers.  I'll leave that up to you to decide. 

You will enjoy this book.  Oh, my heart ached for Patsy.  She is one tough cookie.  It took her a long time and a lot of angst to get there.  She lived her life much as her father did, sacrificing personal happiness for the greater good.  But her love for her father, as his for her, is admirable, and comes across the pages quite clearly.  Reading about my country in its early growing pains and struggles  reminds me that even today, we still have issues of race, equality, and the role of the government in the everyday lives of Americans.  Elections were nasty, and people weren't above spreading malicious gossip to damage reputations.  People haven't changed.  And life was not easy for a woman caught between duty and love.

Rating:  9/10 for a thoroughly entertaining and thought provoking novel about  family, an incredible woman, and what we will do to keep and protect our lives.  I loved reading about post-revolutionary America, Paris as it tumbled into revolution, and so many famous fathers of our country.  

Available in paperback, e-book, and large print hardcover. 

  

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America's First Daughter by Stephanie Dray & Laura Kamoie

The House Girl by Tara Conklin

A big thank you to Harper Collins for the ARC of this novel.  I have been looking forward to reading it for ages, and finally sat down yesterday to pick up where I'd left off a few weeks ago.  I was mentally ready to dive in--and found myself unable to put this one down until the end.  

And then I sat and pondered for a while.  That's the mark of a good book.  It left me a bit sad, happy, and amazed yet again at the talent of some writers.  

This is a dual history novel that takes place New York and on a small plantation  called Bell Creek in Virginia during the years of  1848-1852.  Josephine is a young slave girl who lives in the house and helps Mrs. Bell, who is suffering from a tumor and slowly dying.  She's been unable to have a child survive much past birth--17 children in all.  Mr. Bell is struggling to hang onto the plantation as his profits decrease and he has less slaves to help with the tobacco crops.  

Present day is Lina Sparrow, a young lawyer working her way up the corporate ladder.  Her father is a famous artist, and her mother died suddently when Lina was just a small child.  The loss of her mother has always plagued her, and her father's refusal to talk about her mother has left a huge hole in her life.  Her latest case at work is much different than what she usually has:  a large corporation is suing the US government and other large companies for all the pain, suffering, and lack of wages slaves endured for the 200 years slavery was legal in some States.  This has the potential to be huge--and Lina has to find someone who could be a direct descendant of slaves who can testify.  

Enter in the famous LuAnne Bell paintings.  LuAnne is the mistress that Josephine took care of, and most people have no idea that Josephine was the real artist--but there are rumblings in the art world that LuAnne's paintings are done by Josephine, and it is causing trouble.  And how to prove it?

You would think it would be hard to mesh these two worlds together into a coherent storyline, but Tara Conklin does it quite well.  It does start out a bit slow on Lina's end, but it quickly gathers steam and I was completely engaged and unable to stop reading.  Both stories do not necessarily have happy endings, but endings that make sense.  Some questions are answered, some are not.  Lina's search for a descendent of Josephine quickly becomes a major plot point, and a major change for Lina's outlook on her job and her life--and her quest to know what happened to her mother.  Her father's art world provides a smooth transition for Lina into art galleries and a talk with an art historian who firmly believes Josephine is the true artist of the Bell paintings.  

And Josephine.  Oh, Josephine.  You really feel for her.  Her story is told through letters, paintings, sketches, and her own words.  You will find her character stands out in your mind long after you've put this novel down.

I think this would make an excellent book club selection.  Anyone like me who loves to read about the Old South will certainly want to pick this up.  Fans of The Rebel Wife, The Kitchen House, and The Healer should not hesitate!

Rating:  8/10, great plot; characters that tell their story well, and a very clever idea for a story.  
Available this month in Hardcover and e-book.

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The House Girl by Tara Conklin