Page From a Tennessee Journal is the first novel from former Pediatric Occupational Therapist, Francine Thomas Howard. This is one of the first of previously self-published books being relaunched by the AmazonEncore program. I think it's a very fitting choice. Howard brings us into the lives of the white farm owning couple of Alexander and Eula McNaughton and the Black sharecropping family of John and Annalaura Welles. Set in rural east Tennessee in 1913, the story of these four people as individuals and as couples unfolds.

Alexander and John are both in love with the same woman yet neither knows how to appropriately show their affection without leaving her hurt emotionally and physically. And for one the love is forbidden which is the major source of conflict in this novel. The author's depiction of the lives of sharecroppers would make a good argument of why this practice was as detrimental to Blacks as, if not actually worse than, slavery. The squalid living conditions and unfair arrangements for payments and advances against labor were deplorable. Another social issue tackled is the marginalization of women. The status of the rural Southern woman was very bleak for both Blacks and whites. They both dealt with philandering husbands which was acceptable amongst their social class and being silenced. This was not news to me however, Howard's portrayal was like re-opening a wound and I was angered so much when this matter was brought up. John Welles angered me most with his self-righteous attitude even after he left his wife and children with nothing to seek his fortune. These women had to endure everything thrown at them while keeping up the dutiful, loyal wife routine without so much as an eye roll.  Eula does get her opportunity to use her voice in her journal even if it is only for herself. Annalaura even gets a bit of poetic justice in the end when she gets to make a life changing decision on her terms.

Reading this in two sittings, Howard's writing was well paced and never really hit any lulls. She has written great nuanced characters and the story felt like she was comfortable in the narrative as it's not forced. And I always applaud those who bravely take on whorehouses and Southern dialect without it all coming off as trite. Though it's hard for me to digest tales involving the disparaging treatment of women, it was worth it and deserves every accolade it has coming. Yes, I'm being prophetic. I do hope to see this also become part of the scholarly canon of fiction on women's studies. I highly recommend this entertaining and poignant debut novel.

I received a copy of this book from the author.

A few weeks ago, I stumbled across a book signing taking place at one of my local bookstores and the author was a native of the city. When I read the description of her debut novel, I knew I'd attend and have to read the book.

Wench is a story of historical fiction set in the mid-1800's mostly in Ohio at Tawawa House, a summer resort popular among Southern white men for getaways with their enslaved Black mistresses. First, to learn the existence of such a place caught me by surprise. This is one piece of slavery's history I don't think I expected to ever learn about. The four women who inhabit Perkins-Valdez's debut novel are all very different and pretty well developed. Sweet's name is befitting her mostly soft disposition. Reenie is deemed the wise elder among the ladies, yet she's terrified of water. Lizzie seems to be the most complacent and comfortable with her relationship with her master, Drayle. Mawu is the newest mistress and comes in as intriguing with her African name and non-Christian beliefs. It doesn't take long for Mawu to instigate the idea of the ladies escaping to freedom.

At about a quarter into the book, we get some back story on the development of the relationship between Lizzie and Drayle on their Tennessee plantation. This is an important section as it reveals the complexities of Lizzie's feelings towards her master and how those feelings cause a tug-of-war for her when it comes to the idea of her being a free woman. Perkins-Valdez does a very nice job of incorporating this portion without it disrupting the story's flow and seeming unnecessary. The dynamics of Lizzie relationship with her children and Drayle's wife, Fran, are also revealed. It's Lizzie's role as a mother/ child-bearer, and that of the other women, that is almost paramount to their feelings toward seeking freedom. The last summer that all of the women are together at Tawawa House brings a number of tragedies that catapult them into various directions away from each other, but not in spirit.

Dolen Perkins-Valdez writes very clean and, sometimes, lyrical prose. Her characterizations are not as fully realized as I would have liked for other characters besides Lizzie, but ultimately this is Lizzie's story. I did, however, feel invested in these four women.  Though, I've not done any research on Tawawa House, I'm confident the essence of the setting have captured beautifully. Wench is an exciting debut as it's filled a widely unknown void in the history of American slavery and I'm looking forward to Dolen Perkins-Valdez's future writings.

Challenges:
African Diaspora
POC Reading

Gut-wrenching. Moving. Heartfelt. Truth. Those are just a few words I'd use to describe Bernice McFadden's novel, Sugar. This year is the tenth anniversary of its publication and it's taken me all that time to finally read it. Once I finished, I stopped regretting not reading it sooner. I think I was supposed to read it now, where I am in my life. Only now can this story bring tears to the brink of spilling forth. Only now can I empathize with the title character, a prostitute, who begins to realize there is more for her in this world than a piece of a life. Sugar's story unfolds when she returns to Bigelow, Arkansas, a town near where she was born, to start over. But since she knows only one way of life, she falls easily back into it and much to the delight of most of the men and the chagrin of the women of the town. The women want her gone and she's a tough, defiant woman who, initially, can't be moved. She slowly develops a friendship with her neighbor Pearl who lost a daughter, who Sugar seems to bear quite a resemblance to, fifteen years earlier. While Sugar is learning secrets of her own past, the secrets of some of the other townsfolk are revealed who share a link to her. McFadden does an excellent job of exploring morality and judgment through a number of startling back stories involving some of the same women who gossip about Sugar. A real testament to the author's storytelling abilities is the nuanced friendship that blossoms between Pearl and Sugar that allows Pearl to truly begin healing from the loss of her daughter. The story reads like it will be one of redemption for the protagonist, but McFadden keeps it real and doesn't tie everything up nice and neat at the end. McFadden's writing is accessible and a bit haunting. It has a foreboding tone that didn't allow me to put my guard down. Sugar has a very open ending that I'll hopefully find resolution to in the follow-up, This Bitter Earth.

Challenges:
African Diaspora

Last month I read and reviewed Children of the Waters, the second novel by Carleen Brice. The story examines the idea of race in terms of identification and romantic relationships using adoption as a vehicle. As promised, Carleen Brice has been so gracious as to be interviewed by BrownGirl BookSpeak.


BGBS: What prompted you to write a story not only on adoption, but also one that crosses color lines?

Brice: Children of the Waters is partially based on a true story. My former sister-in-law is biracial and was put up for adoption because her birth father was black. In real life she was adopted by a white family so when she met her white birth sister, race wasn't really an issue. I started thinking what if she had been adopted by a black family? What if she hadn't even known she was adopted?

Also, I am intrigued by stories that include people of different races because that's the life I know and lead. I know many people in this country rarely interact with people outside their same race and class lines. But there are plenty who do--plenty of interracial families (our president being a prime example) and it's the life I know and lead. I grew up playing with white kids, black kids, Native American kids. I have another sister-in-law who's Latina. My husband is white. I wanted to write about the world as I experience it, where things aren't so, pun intended, black and white.

BGBS: It's refreshing to read a novel featuring a pair of successful, educated, and cultured Black parents. Why do you think this image is often lacking in the literary landscape?

Brice: I wish I knew, but I truly don't understand it. Again, I am trying to show the world as I know it. I know plenty of dysfunctional families of all races and plenty of together people of all races. It's important to me to show the variety within the black community. Just like any other group, we have it all.

Mostly I write what I do because they say write what you want to read.  So I write about people and situations that are interesting and important to me and hope they will be to others.

BGBS: In Children of the Waters, you delve into a hodgepodge of cultural and spiritual beliefs-Christianity, African ancestral spirits, etc. that add beautiful layers to the characters. Why was it important to include those characteristics?

Brice: At the risk of repeating myself, it was important because these are all beliefs that I know people have and are beliefs that I respect. My grandmother has been a member of the same church for over 70 years. Yet, I myself, am not a church-goer. I like seeing and showing the diversity of beliefs. I love that my grandmother has had the comfort and support of her church her entire life.  I love that Michelle Obama has a cousin who's a rabbi! Back to the rich diversity that I see within our community and outside our community.

BGBS: One of your blogs is called "White Readers Meet Black Authors". Would you explain a bit about your mission with this blog?

Brice: My mission there is to help black authors reach a wider readership. Too often black authors are marketed only to black readers, and it can hurt our careers. I'm trying to get readers, booksellers and publishers to broaden their ideas about who the target audience is for a book. So readers who like mysteries, for example, should be hearing about ALL the mystery writers there are, not just white readers hearing about white mystery writers and black readers hearing about black mystery writers. That's such a limited and limiting way of perceiving the world.

BGBS: What literary endeavors are up next?

Brice: I'm working on my third novel. My working title is Calling Every Good Wish Home. We don't have a release date yet, but I hope to firm things up enough this year to know what will become of it. I'm having a lot of fun with these new characters. It's about a woman who's estranged from her father and becomes close with his wife.

BGBS: Anything else you'd like to add...

Brice: I'm so excited that my first novel Orange Mint and Honey has been made into a movie called "Sins of the Mother"! It stars Jill Scott and will air on the Lifetime Movie Network, LMN on Sunday, February 7th-Super Bowl Sunday!


There you have it folks! The fabulous Carleen Brice has a new novel in the pipeline, a movie adaptation of her first novel- Orange, Mint, and Honey, and she's spreading the gospel of Black authors to the masses. And Browngirl BookSpeak sings her praises!

Keep up with Carleen Brice:
www.carleenbrice.com
White Readers Meet Black Authors
The Pajama Gardener

Update: Since this interview, the air date for Sins of the Mother has been changed to Sunday, February 21 on Lifetime.

Children of the Waters is the story of two sisters separated by racism at its finest. One sister, Trish, is raised by her white grandparents after her mothers death. The other sister, Billie, is adopted by a Black family and unknown to Trish until years after her grandmother passes but begins to speak to her in a unique way. Billie has never known she was adopted and Trish was told her sister and mother were both dead. When Trish discovers Billie, she finds her to work through the truth of their separation and to, hopefully, develop the type of familial relationship she never had with her grandparents.

With well developed characters and writing just right in tone and pace, Brice has really tackled the issue of race in a no nonsense manner. Everyone clearly and boldly states their ideas on the subject. Even Trish does not shy away from her thoughts on race. But sometimes, I wonder could her opinion be afforded to her by white privilege. It's easy to say to heck with skin color when it never adversely affects you. But it was still nice to see that characterization was fair and not the "strong Black woman" v. the "wimpy white woman." Not just race/ism but colorism (light skin v. dark skin) is examined as well. There is also much debate on religion that could be unsettling to those of a certain faith but is resolved intelligently in the end. Meanwhile, there is a strong reverence for ancestral spirits.  The good pacing is in regard to the relationship of Billie and Trish. It's not some magical reunion with these two sisters accepting each other immediately (at least not on Billie's end). And last, but not least, no Black men are vilified, though one's intentions are still questionable.

This novel will leave you mulling over the idea of a post-racial America, what it means to be of mixed race/ethnicity, and the definition of family. Can American society ever move beyond skin color?

Stay tuned for an interview with Carleen Brice.

Woman At Point Zero is a classic novella by Egyptian doctor and feminist writer, Nawal El Saadawi. She tells the story of an Egyptian prostitute, Firdaus, sitting on death row for murder. Firdaus endures a cruel childhood and sexual abuse by an uncle. She desperately wants to do something with her secondary education, but the prospects for women are few. When her uncle and his wife try to marry her off, she runs away and here begins her journey of self discovery. Firdaus' life remains mired by an abusive relationship and then, prostitution. She's your typical woman scorned one too many times and driven to the ultimate vindication. The story focuses on how she arrived at death row and why she chooses not to appeal her sentence. She views her actions as truth, "and truth is savage and dangerous."

Woman At Point Zero is well written in accessible language and sometimes gut punching truths: "That men force women to sell their bodies at a price, and the lowest paid body is that of a wife. All women are prostitutes of one kind or another." Nawal El Saadawi paints a vivid picture of the marginalization of women and how the legal system can often perpetuate violence against women.

I was so glad to finally read this book. At once I felt disgusted and angry then, empowered to, like Firdaus, raise my hand to smash against the face of those who brutalize women.

Challenges:
November Novella
Women Unbound
Reading Africa

So, I got a new Twitter follower, a book blogger, and noticed she had a recent tweet with #unbound. That hashtag is Twitter speak; it denotes a topic of conversation. Of course, I got nosy and checked it out. Whaddaya know, it's a reading challenge focused on women's studies texts. Well, of course I'm in. I've got quite a few that I have yet to read- fiction and nonfiction. This will put a nice dent into the tons of books I already own but haven't read yet. There are several titles that I have read and would have been perfect for this challenge. Who knows, they might get a re-read. Anyway, on to the most fun part of reading challenges: the book list. I'm going for the third level reader, suffragette, which calls for reading at least eight books and three should be nonfiction. Again, so not a problem with what's already on my shelves. Here we go, so far:

Fiction
Big Breasts & Wide Hips by Mo Yan
Me Dying Trial by Patricia Powell
Brown Girl, Brownstones by Paule Marshall
Iola Leroy by Frances E.W. Harper
The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta
Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga
Woman At Point Zero by Nawal El Saddawi

Nonfiction
Migrations of the Heart by Marita Golden
In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens by Alice Walker
Theorizing Black Feminisms ed. Stanlie M. James & Abena P.A. Busia
Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde
A Voice From the South by Anna Julia Cooper

These are three levels of participation:

• Philogynist: read at least two books, including at least one nonfiction one.
• Bluestocking: read at least five books, including at least two nonfiction ones.
• Suffragette: read at least eight books, including at least three nonfiction ones.

And now for a meme...
1. What does feminism mean to you? Does it have to do with the work sphere? The social sphere? How you dress? How you act?

Feminism, for me, is about women not being marginalized. It's freedom to not be forced into male WASPs ideal of the feminine. However, I subscribe to Womanism which focuses on the intersection of race, class, and gender.


2. Do you consider yourself a feminist? Why or why not?

Yes, but I think all women are to a degree. Most of us make conscious decisions to be our true selves and that's different for every woman. Most of us choose to not be pigeonholed into one feminine identity.


3. What do you consider the biggest obstacle women face in the world today? Has that obstacle changed over time, or does it basically remain the same?

Labeling. Men label us and we label ourselves.We can't seem to get away from the need to zoom in instead of allowing ourselves to be broad and multifaceted. But then, I guess this isn't just a woman problem, but I think it's more prevalent for women.

Yesterday, my son and I hung out at the library to do school. While he worked independently, I grabbed Jacqueline Woodson's If You Come Softly. I had recently been recommended this author by Susan of ColorOnline during a discussion on "problem novels" in YA fiction. So, I started reading it there and had to check it out so I could finish it at home.

If you Come Softly is first a teenage love story. Jeremiah Roselind, son of a famous filmmaker and a novelist, and Ellie Eisen, daughter of a doctor and SAHM, have one of those instantaneous love stories. One brief and awkward encounter leave them both with lingering thoughts about each other. At first, the most prevalent thought is that he's Black and she's white/Jewish.  Although they get over this difference quickly, strangers don't and whether their families will is questionable.  What unfolds in this story is a sometimes naive, yet sweet, youthful romance that explores racial identity and stereotypes with an unexpected ending.

I was so engrossed in this fast paced read and not sure of what I wanted to happen in the end. What did happen, I was so not prepared for. Of course, in retrospect, I do recall a bit of foreshadowing that was very subtle. This is a testament to Woodson's narrative skills. She gives hints that don't make things predictable. However, the ending still pissed me off. Woodson, why'd you have to break my heart like that?

This is a story that, for its implications of race, adults might actually learn more from. Today's young people are growing up in such multi-ethnic/multicultural societies that they have already gotten over it. It's the adults that seem to still carry the burden. What young people will get from this book, though, is that "time comes to us softly, slowly. It sits beside us for a while. Then, long before we are ready, it moves on." Carpe Diem!

Note to Susan: Thanks for the recommendation. I'm looking forward to reading more by Jacqueline Woodson. I got a copy of From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun for the read-a-thon.

In Atlas of Unknowns, first time novelist Tania James, tells the funny and honest story of two sisters trying to find their places in this world amidst betrayal and haunting secrets. The older sister, Linno, is scarred by an unfortunate accident and the truth behind her mother's death. She's a gifted artist, yet does not shine the way her younger sister, Anju,  does academically. Anju is so successful in school that she applies for and receives a scholarship to attend an elite private school in New York. Though she wins the scholarship under false pretenses, she thinks this will be her opportunity to improve her family's situation. There's also a good supporting cast of characters. These include Anju's Hindu host family, the Sankalis, whose matriarch is a cohost on an American talk show that seems to be a caricature of a real life four woman hosted show and a son who defers college to pursue documentary film making. Then there's Bird, who brings Anju some semblance of comfort in the midst of culture shock and has a secret tie to her. Set in Kerala, India and New York, we see two sisters navigate issues like marriage, family, post 9/11 immigration, and self-discovery.



"For such a small world, the space from person to person can span a whole sea."
This describes the relationship between Anju and Linno both emotionally and physically. However, the emotional divide lessens once the spatial divide becomes a factor.

I absolutely loved this book! At first, I thought this was going to be a story about one fortunate, scheming sister and the other talented and woeful. But, this isn't the case. Even though Linno lacks self-confidence early in the story, when Anju stabs her in the back, Linno calls her out. And like you would hope sisters would do, Linno still supports Anju's temporary success and she desperately tries to get to her when everything falls apart. I cheered Linno on through her self discovery and all but spewed venom at Anju, even after she loses everything. I did, however, sympathize with their father Melvin once he finds himself working for the wealthy man who was once betrothed to his deceased wife. James has a keen sense of narrative. Her characters are well developed, relative, and recognizable. She handles the issues of immigration in a post 9/11 America and a young Indian woman challenging marital customs with honesty. I felt very satisfied once finished with this. A small part of me didn't want it to end, and that's when you know you've read something really special.