01/20/2020
The trauma of slavery forms the core of Woods’s arresting debut, which weaves together tales of four black women from the late 1700s to the present day. Gaelle, originally from Haiti, is a nurse’s aide working in a care facility in contemporary Ohio, where a dour resident named Winter abruptly grabs her, transmitting a familiar, hot, seemingly otherworldly energy. Stumbling against the wall, Gaelle falls into a dream state. The narrative then jumps to rural 1857 Louisiana, where Margot, a 17-year-old slave, decides to escape to New Orleans, where a priestess named Abigail is rumored to protect slaves. As the story hopscotches through time, it hits 1852, when teenage Winter lives with Abigail in a magical Ohio sanctuary called Remembrance, and 1791, when Abigail honed her powers. But by the time Margot finds Abigail, her powers are beginning to diminish. The magical abilities manifest differently—Gaelle can sense the past through touch, Abigail bends space to create a protected area, Margot can heal with her touch, Winter can break into “spaces between spaces”—and helps each fight the racist conventions of their eras. Fine attention to sensory details and brutal honesty concerning the horrors of slavery and racial relations over more than two centuries of American history make this a standout. (Jan.)
★ 12/01/2019
DEBUT Remembrance is a stop along the Underground Railroad, a magical pleat in time and space. If the enslaved can find their way to it, they disappear from the slave hunters and from white people altogether, and can live in peace and freedom. Mother Abigail created it and holds it together, but her powers are beginning to wane. Boundaries are weakening. Margot makes her way to Remembrance, after unimaginable loss as a slave in New Orleans. When her master succumbs to yellow fever, the widow sells Margo and her sister, Veronique, away from their beloved grandmother. Then Margot loses her sister to illness as they struggle to find their way to the Railroad. Her pain and loss begin to unlock her power. Can she be the person who keeps Remembrance as a hidden pocket of hope? Then, in modern-day Cleveland, a Haitian immigrant is struggling to make a life as a nursing assistant. How does Gaelle tie back to the past? VERDICT This book deserves to be a breakout hit. Woods's magical realist take on the black female experience will have huge appeal to readers of Marlon James and Tara Conklin.—Jennifer Mills, Shorewood-Troy Lib., IL
2019-10-28
Four gifted women of color inhabit a multigenerational saga of slavery, rebellion, and magic.
The novel begins in present-day Cleveland, as nursing home worker Gaelle is tending to a mysterious resident, known to staff only as Jane Doe, who has an uncanny ability to generate heat—an ability that Gaelle shares. The mute, ancient woman seems to understand Gaelle's Creole. Gaelle's story will recur, but the past predominates here. In 1791, Haiti's slave rebellion is beginning, as escaped slaves known as maroons are mustering forces. Abigail, whose husband, a rebel, is executed by the whites, is taken by her mistress, Ninette, to New Orleans. Soon after arriving, though, Abigail is rescued from slavery by an ancient crone and a seemingly ageless man named Josiah, who educate her in the dark arts. As yellow fever grips 1850s New Orleans, the Hannigan family repairs to their summer residence, Far Water, with enslaved sisters Veronique and Margot in tow. However, the Hannigan fortunes fail thanks to the feckless husband of Catherine, Ninette's granddaughter, and Veronique and Margot are sold. They embark on the Underground Railroad but only Margot survives the trek to Ohio. There, Margot is ushered into a magical, Shangri-La-like realm called Remembrance, which was founded by Abigail, now a fearsome priestess. She has erected the Edge, an invisible force field around the black community of Remembrance, barring any whites from entry. Josiah is now her chief henchman. However, white bounty hunters are near, and the Edge, due to Abigail's increasing dementia, is fraying. Abigail strives to pass the torch to her adopted daughter, 18-year-old Winter, who exhibits powers of psychokinesis. (Margot too has a gift, for visceral empathy.) But before Winter is ready, disaster looms. Scenes drag on as characters ruminate over various courses of action. Plans are too often interrupted by happenstance, which, though realistic, is not all that interesting. And the novel subverts its own suspense by revealing crucial facts way too early.
Despite a few rookie missteps, the novel's originality makes it worth reading.
