The House of Eve, by Sadeqa Johnson

Much like Johnson’s first novel, Yellow Wife, The House of Eve (one of whose characters turns out to be descended from Pheby in Yellow Wife explores aspects of Black women’s history in the US that may not be widely known. This novel starts in 1948 with two young women, fifteen-year-old Ruby, a bright, ambitious high school student from a poor family in Philadephia, and Eleanor, a college sophomore pursuing her dreams at Howard University. The two girls have ambition and intelligence in common, but have never met, though their lives are destined to intersect in a way neither of them could predict.

While following the stories of both these young women I learned about classism and colorism within Black communities in this period, about the attitudes towards interracial relationships (of course, I always knew they disapproved of and for a long time illegal, but the attitude that a Black mother might have towards her daughter dating a white boy was explored here in ways I hadn’t thought of), and about the options for women who got pregnant of out wedlock in that era. As with Johnson’s last book, I found this an engaging and enlightening glimpse into a time, a place, and a community.