From the Bookshelf of La Crescent Public Library…

[close] Set during the Civil Rights Movement, Sara is a young mother whose past is laced with trauma. In an attempt to start over, she travels to Memphis and gets a job at a boarding house, working in the kitchen with the proprietor, Mama Sugar.

The book is one that would work well as a book club discussion pick. Less focused on the civil rights movement itself, the book interweaves Black artists, singers, and changemakers in its scene-painting details and focuses the story on a close-knit community and how our family can be one of our choosing.

It is also a book about grief - who survives it? How do we survive? What helps us move forward? And what happens when a person is dealt too much?

Catherine Adel West's novel is a poignant examination of how we survive the world, how we cope with what we can't control, and the different ways we try to save ourselves.

~Jess