A trip to the south, visiting Natchitoches, LA and the area near there, I surprised to see this this book about the area, I'd meant to read long ago. I was totally captured by the story of these 4 women. Tademy does an excellent job capturing the lives of this extraordinary family as they struggle through. Based on Tademy's research into her own family heritage, she manages to recreate their heartbreaking, lives without attacking what happened and continues to happen. I agree that this is historical fiction of the highest order. ( )

Didn't finish it. ( )

A novelization of the author’s own family and a portrait of her grandmother, great-grandmother and great-great grandmother and the lives they carved out for themselves on plantations along the Cane River near Natchitoches, Louisiana

An interesting examination of how complicated our intersections with race are in this country. ( )

I loved this book. The complexities of interracial-intercultural relationships, especially as it involves inequality and slavery, goes back to the beginning of time, but has been too little explored. My own mixed Native American/Illinois pioneer squatter roots are hard to trace precisely because people at the time hid the 'unsavory' truths of their origins and identified with the dominant culture. I reached out to the author years ago after reading this, an excellent book I highly recommend. ( )

This book is the factionalized version of the author’s family history. It was based on a great deal of research and detail. However I had a really hard time keeping track of the characters. Perhaps it was not a good choice to listen to it instead of reading a hard copy. ( )