Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim
This is a beautifully written book about a young white girl
Lisbeth or Miss Elizabeth as her parents want her known as who grows up on Fair
Oaks Plantation in the 1800’s. When Lisbeth is born she is handed from her
mother to slave/wet-nurse Mattie who has been taken from the Quarters and her
newborn son to the Big House and Elizabeth’s mother thinks she should be so
grateful to be living in the lap of luxury. As time goes on Lisbeth learns to
love and depend on Mattie much more than her own mother but Lisbeth is young
and naïve and doesn’t realize there is much more to life on the plantation than
she is seeing.
This is a coming of age story as we watch Lisbeth from the
time she is born till she is a grown woman, we watch as innocence is replaced
with knowledge and knowledge is not always a happy thing. This realization is a
slow building and at times Lisbeth doesn’t want to see but when the time comes
she has to make a choice- “ Decisions to make, she thought to herself. She was
too tired to make any more decisions.”
These characters were so real to me I could hear their
voices in my head; I could see what they saw. This author gave voice to these
people in such a beautiful way I can’t even come close to finding the correct words
to explain it. This is a debut novel and I am amazed by that and hope this
author writes many. Many more books because I plan on reading them all!
Beautiful southern historical fiction I highly recommend!
5 Stars
Crossposted on Eddy-New Rockford Library blog
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