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Summary
Summary
From the New York Times bestselling author of Cane River comes the dramatic, intertwining story of two families and their struggles during the tumultuous years that followed the Civil War.
Author Notes
Lalita Tademy lives in Menlo Park, California.
(Publisher Provided)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Blending historical fact and fictional narrative, Tademy portrays an endearing generational family saga of her ancestors as they embraced the potential freedoms afforded by Reconstruction and struggled through the backlash of white supremacy in Colfax, La. Despite losing their rights, property and lives, the Tademy family perseveres, carrying a legacy of strength, determination and prosperity to each new generation. Gammy Singer introduces listeners to the story in the brittle yet wise and aged voice of the oldest surviving matriarch, Polly, who witnessed four generations of Tademys from 1873 to 1937. Tim Cain provides the crux of the performance embodying the dynamic members of this family and delivering the narrative in a solemn and deep tone that grips its audience. He remains consistent and distinct with his vocal characterizations while also allowing for some similarity among family members. Inspiring musical interludes announce the end of a CD or the transition of time within the story. Though the abridgment feels evident, listeners don't necessarily feel shortchanged by the production. The author's note read by Tademy at the end also resolves certain questions listeners might have about the story's validity. Simultaneous release with the Warner hardcover (Reviews, Dec. 18). (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Bestselling author of Cane River (2001) brings another 19th-century family story, this one focused on the Colfax Massacre, the bloodiest battle of the Reconstruction era. In the aftermath of the Civil War, the November 1872 elections are the first time the freed slaves living in the Bottom, an African-American settlement near Colfax, La., are able to assert their citizenship. But the election is inconclusive, and when the white Democratic ticket tries to unlawfully take office, the largely Republican black population occupies the town courthouse, waiting for support from the federal government. For Israel Smith and Sam Tademy, the choice is difficult--each has a wife and children in the Bottom to think about, and every day they spend in the courthouse is a harder one for their families. But as whites begin to learn about the occupation, the Bottom also becomes increasingly unsafe. Fighting begins in earnest in April, when a white army enters Colfax and brutally murders nearly every black man there. Sam is given the task of leading the women and children out of Colfax and is thus spared, and on his way back to town finds Israel, wounded but still alive. Nearly a decade after the riots, the author continues the story of the two families and their depleted community from the perspective of the next generation--particularly Israel's son Noby and Sam's son Jackson (Green, who shared his father's dream of building a school for black children, is killed in a hunting accident). The families further intertwine when members of the third generation marry, and each tries to figure out how to--and if they even should--maintain the legacy of Colfax. The first half of the book sheds light on an overlooked event, and is rife with palpable tension, but the author tries to cram far too much history and family drama into the second half. What starts as a page-turner becomes an overblown saga. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
\rtf1\ansi\deff0Tademy, author of the highly acclaimed Cane River 0 (2001), revisits her fascinating family history in this fictionalized account of the family\'s survival of a riot in 1873. Colfax, Louisiana, was the site of a massacre of more than 100 black men by white supremacists determined that the voting rights of former slaves not be honored, keeping in place political officials who upheld the racial hierarchy of slavery even during Reconstruction. Tademy family legend credits Sam Tademy with reclaiming the closest phonetic pronunciation of his original African name following the Civil War, and passing it along in the family. Sam is a major figure in this recollection of the events leading up to the massacre and the struggle thereafter. Tademy draws on family legend, official documents, and newspaper accounts to chronicle the determination of the Tademys, the Smiths, and other black families to take a stand against rising racial brutality in the years following slavery. The Tademys were among the black families who sought to make a place for themselves in the town, buying land, opening a store, starting a school, braving continued attacks by racists, marrying, and continuing their family lines. Tademy brings drama and pathos to an epic account of her family history and a shameful account of our nation's history. Tademy is establishing herself as a compelling chronicler of the complex history of slavery and race in America. --Vanessa Bush Copyright 2006 Booklist
Library Journal Review
A successful black female executive, Tademy left corporate America to explore her family's roots. Cane River, the first novel to result from her genealogical research, was a 2001 Oprah's Book Club summer selection and a New York Times best seller. Here, the author tackles a different branch of the Tademy family tree, skillfully portraying the repercussions of what became known as the Colfax Riot. In 1873, during Reconstruction, black voters in Colfax, LA, many of whom were freed slaves, took up arms to install the legally elected white Republican Party sheriff, who was seen by angry whites as a hated carpetbagger. A violent standoff at the town courthouse resulted in great loss of life and ushered in a new era of intimidation and discrimination that many Southern blacks had hoped was ending with Reconstruction. This engrossing and eyeopening emotional family saga spans several generations while bringing an African American perspective to a very painful time in U.S. history. Strongly recommended for all fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 9/15/06.]-Laurie A. Cavanaugh, Brockton P.L., MA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
