Rating: ★★★
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Rue has inherited her mother’s gift and role as healer and midwife, as well as the ability to conjure curses. This book picks up shortly after the civil war and emancipation of slaves, and she continues to serve her community in the shadow of their former master’s plantation. When the birth of a baby with a strange birthmark coincides with the arrival of a preacher called Abel and a new disease which kills off the town’s children, Rue’s community begins to turn on her. Meanwhile, there are reports of a ghostly woman, which threatens to unravel the secrets which Rue has kept hidden since the war.
There are lots of things I really liked about this book. I loved the setting and the insight into ‘conjure women’, I loved Afia Atakora’s prose and the way her descriptions brought things to life, and I loved the way the story jumped between Rue’s present day and her past. There were also plot points which I found fascinating like the story of what happened to Rue’s father.
Unfortunately what held this story back for me was the lack of a clear overarching plot. I felt like Rue was plodding along while a bunch of things happened around her, and I couldn’t see what her main story arc, her goal, or her journey was. This made the reading experience feel a bit forced to me, as it felt somewhat unstructured, but I still enjoyed the writing and characters enough to keep reading.
Overall this was a good book which raises so many issues like slavery, racism, sexual assault and motherhood, and which had some brilliant prose. However the structure and plot left me feeling a bit disenchanted and unengaged.
Ink Drops Books 