Afia Atakora

The setting is a plantation somewhere in the American South. Most of the action takes place during the Reconstruction Era, when a community of once-enslaved people continue to live in the cabins that used to be "the quarters", in close proximity to the burned-out ruin of the former home of Marse Charles. With glimpses back to pre-war times, and to the latter days of the war itself, we learn through the eyes of the "conjure women" May Belle and her daughter Rue, what life was like for slaves with some small measure of privilege based on their healing skills. May Belle's knowledge of plants and their concoction into medicines often seemed like magic to master and slaves alike. Her power was both sought after and feared. Her judicious use of actual "spells" was usually her own secret, not available upon demand. Rue was reluctant to follow in her mother's footsteps, knowing that a birth gone wrong could be seen as the result of hoo-doo; an infection that would not yield, blamed on the healer's ill will toward the sufferer. The true magic to be found in this novel comes from the way the past and present are intermingled, the way bits of secrets are revealed in precisely the proper way, and the way the reader is drawn into the characters' lives. There is no galloping story line, but there are plenty of developments along the way, some of which could be expected, others of which are surprising. The ending is satisfying without being too pat. It is clear that a lot of research went into this book, yet it never comes across as "educational", and even more miraculously, to me, it doesn't feel like an MFA product. Highly recommended.… (meer)

This is a lovely if somewhat flawed novel about a Black community on a Southern plantation before and during the Civil War and then in the years just after, and the story, within that community, of a mother and a daughter: two generations of conjure women--community healers, midwives and, when need be, spell casters. The narrative jumps back and forth between the two time periods and the two women. The mother, Miss May Belle, tries to keep the plantation's slaves healthy and to soothe them as best she can. She is given extra privileges by the plantation's owner because of her ability to keep his workforce working and help the women bear their children, which of course then immediately owns. Her daughter is Miss Rue, a child during slavery days, and her mother's protégée, and then the heir to May's practice and position in the community. It's Rue's job to tend to the community after Emancipation. We're told that the plantation is large enough, and in a spot so remote, that once the owner and his family are gone, the freed slaves are left to fend for themselves. This is the first of the not-quite-believable elements to the story. At any rate, modern readers will know, although this is only hinted at in the narrative, that Reconstruction is not going to last forever, or for very long, and that soon enough the White world will come calling, bringing terror and death. Rue's doomed attempts to forestall this calamity provides some of the novel's best, and skillfully understated, tension. The descriptions of the worlds of slavery and the times just after are handled well, with close in portraits of living conditions and the social aspects of those world's as well. In particular, I appreciated the Atakora's avoidance of cliche in this respect. However, that's not to say that the book is wholly free of cliche. The arrival of a charismatic traveling preacher of questionable morals and intent, for example, and the resulting tension between the old ways of Rue's natural learning and the preacher's wielding of Christianity as a weapon, as well as their battle for the loyalty of the community. It's not that these elements, and a few others I'll refrain from detailing here, aren't handled well, it's just that they represent very familiar tropes that I'd hoped perhaps could have been steered around. I do want to say that I thought the relationship between mother and daughter was very well imagined and described.

The narrative moves slowly at times. That's OK, as I mostly found it fine to luxuriate in some of the descriptions of character and place, but still I thought the book could have been trimmed about about a quarter. The two timelines come together skillfully at the end, though some of the most dramatic situations of what had seemed at times to be the heart of the story seemed by them to be mostly have been dispensed with. Additionally, at times the characters' motivations for actions that, again, are at the heart of the story, are a bit obscure.

I feel, as can happen with these reviews, that I've over-emphasized the faults I found to the extent perhaps of overshadowing this novel's many virtues. There's a lot here to like, a lot of terrific writing, and this is a first novel. I will absolutely be tracking Atakor's career and look forward to seeing what she does next.… (meer)