2009 Alex Award Winner!
I love reading books that I don't want to put down. This adult novel won the Bellwether Prize for Fiction (whatever that means) but I think it means that it is just a dang good read. Hillary Jordan is quite the storyteller. The setting is Mississippi, 1946. The chapters are told from different point-of-views. My favorite is Florence, the wife of Hap, who is black, regal, tall, and serves as a midwife. She is helping in the household of Laura, who is one of the main characters. Laura married when she was 31 and is moved from her comfortable city life to a mudbound farm in Mississippi. She loves her two girls and is comfortable with her husband, Henry. The interaction between Laura, Henry, and Henry's brother Jamie is wonderful. The nuances and unspoken words between the three is awesome. I loved it. I think you can definitely call this a family drama. But I can't forget Ronsel, the black tank commander son of Florence and Hap. He's home from the war, just like Jamie, and has to learn to live under Jim Crow again. He doesn't do very well. This is quite the story of racial injustice, small town prejudices and hatred. But it doesn't just exist between the blacks and the whites.
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