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    Grace: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Grace: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Grace: A Novel
    Ebook434 pages9 hours

    Grace: A Novel

    By Natashia Deon

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Named a New York Times Best Book of the Year, 2016
    For a runaway slave in the 1840s south, life on the run can be just as dangerous as life under a sadistic Massa. That's what fifteen-year-old Naomi learns after she escapes the brutal confines of life on an Alabama plantation and takes refuge in a Georgia brothel run by a gun-toting Jewish madam named Cynthia. Amidst a revolving door of gamblers and prostitutes, Naomi falls into a love affair with a smooth-talking white man named Jeremy.
    The product of their union is Josey, whose white skin and blond hair mark her as different from the others on the plantation. Having been taken in as an infant by a free slave named Charles, Josey has never known her mother, who was murdered at her birth. Josey soon becomes caught in the tide of history when news of the Emancipation Proclamation reaches her and a day of supposed freedom turns into one of unfathomable violence that will define Josey—and her lost mother— for years to come.
    Grace is a sweeping, intergenerational saga featuring a group of outcast women during one of the most compelling eras in American history. It is a universal story of freedom, love, and motherhood, told in a dazzling and original voice set against a rich and transporting historical backdrop.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCounterpoint
    Release dateMay 16, 2016
    ISBN9781619027725
    Unavailable
    Grace: A Novel

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    Reviews for Grace

    4/5

    38 ratings6 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I am a little speechless. This book was so moving. Just everything about it sunk into me. This was one of those books I randomly picked out at the library and I am so glad my fingers fell on it. Never heard of this author but will definitely follow her to see what other masterpieces she produces
    • 3/5
      This is the debut novel by Natashia Deón. It tells the stories of two black women, Naomi, in 1840s Georgia and her daughter, Josey, in the 1860s in Alabama. Naomi flees the murder of a slaveowner, finding a refuge of sorts in a rural brothel. There, she has a contentious relationship with the brothel owner, but her impulsivity and naivety lead her into danger. Later, her daughter, blonde and troubled, experiences the dangers of being legally free, but living in the South. This was an interesting novel that didn't lack for drama, but had a lot more melodrama than I would have liked. While Naomi was flawed, but willing to act, her daughter spent her life needing to be cared for and her decisions made for her, first by her guardian and then by her husband, making her a not very interesting character to spend half of a novel reading about. I also have some questions about some of the behaviors of a few of the characters and of whether that would have been at all likely in the antebellum south, but the two stories didn't lack for momentum.
    • 4/5
      Ms. Deon, I can not believe that this is your debut novel! It's brilliant, and you are a wonderful storyteller! I was so fortunate to have won this through a Goodreads Giveaway, and I could not be more glad. This novel is definitely not for the faint of heart, but it is a wonderful read!
    • 5/5
      Brilliant and devastating, lyrical and heart-breakingly sad. Everyone should read this book. Natashia Deón is a great talented voice!
    • 1/5
      I hope that I haven't missed out on a fantastic book, but I had to stop reading at page 67. The ghost narrator of this story - Naomi, who is the slave mother of Josey and who was murdered at her birth - skips around in time from her own story in 1846 to Josey's story in 1860 and then 1855, and it is so convoluted and confusing that I just could not continue. I don't ever want to have to work this hard to enjoy or understand a book. Sorry.
    • 4/5
      I struggled at times with this novel - the nonlinear storyline threw me for a loop a few times - but by the end, I was really impressed by how the plot came together. Overall, this was a thought-provoking novel that doesn't hide the brutality of slavery while also showing characters who take agency over their own fate.