Jacqueline E. Luckett

Lena Spencer should have the perfect life. A successful and rich husband, two children a mother can be proud of is her life. But she's not happy. In counseling, Richard doesn't understand and Lena can't explain why she is so frustrated. No one expected her to leave, but she had to or suffocate. An unexpected conclusion will be satisfying. Not all marriages are meant to be saved. Lena uses the example of her idol Tina Turner to make a plan for her life. This was won through a Good Reads giveaway and was one I'd not ordinarily pick up, but it was most enjoyable!… (meer)

Nicole-Marie Handy has a lifelong love of all things French, bu tat 56, had never been there. She is living a day by day mostly boring existence and having an affair with a married man who is a complete jerk. Everyone acts as though she shouldn't go to France on her own, and the jerk even proposes, bu t she decides to keep her promise to her friend, that she would go on without her after the friend died.

She has learned some French, and treasured a French dictionary that she found as a child and later had taken away from her, and has always been mistaken as being from Louisiana since she is African-American with French interests and French names. Her mother, Malvina, has always reacted badly to her interest in French and the photograph of a glamorous woman in their family photo album.

Nicole loves France as much as she thought she would. She is looking through a box at a junk shop and learning a bit about African Americans in France during and after WWII when she finds a picture of her father, Squire, from World War II with a loving message written on it to a woman she's never heard of.

Phone calls to her father do her no good as he has Alzheimer's and her mother, a strict and disciplined lady who's recovering from a stroke, isn't forthcoming. What Malvina does do, is send Nicole some letters written years ago, from Squire, Malvina, and a woman named Ruby. The revelations keep coming as she realizes her mother has never told her about her sister, Ruby.

As Nicole gets to know France and an interesting man from Senegal and learns more about the jazz scene in post WWII France she learns more about her family.

This was a great book with its French atmosphere, alternating between the present and Ruby's story in the past with her man Arnett, a jazz player. It also incorporates a love of poetry, especially Langston Hughes. One of Hughes' poems "Passing Love" gives the book its title. This book is a story about family secrets and getting to a certain point in your life and wondering how you got there. It might spark an interest in the lives of African Americans and the jazz scene in Paris in a time when African Americans were being accepted and celebrated there, when they weren't in the USA.

As a side note, the French words that introduced and hinted at the contents of each chapter were a nice touch.

I would recommend anyone interested in Paris, jazz, and African American history check out this book.… (meer)

I absolutely adored this book! I’m a big fan of the Jazz Age and post~World War II African American culture, but those two topics are usually only covered within the confines of American society. Taking the concepts of racism, black womanhood, poverty and expectation across the Atlantic and intertwining it with romance, mystery, secrets and lies made for a delightful read.

This novel is part history lesson, part fantasy and a whole lot of “oh no she didn’t”. The sometimes antagonistic mother~daughter relationship is played out in a loving way that makes it relatable to women of all ages no matter what their relationships with their mothers. I also enjoyed the way Luckett handled the exploration of parents as people before they came together and created families. Did Mom or Dad really love someone before they met each other?

Overall, this is a terrific read and would make for some wonderfully creative book group discussions.… (meer)