#BlogTour The White Girl by Tony Birch

It’s a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour The White Girl by Tony Birch. It’s an excellent read. I highly recommend it.

About the Author

Tony Birch is the author of three novels: the bestselling The White Girl, winner of the 2020 NSW Premier’s Award for Indigenous Writing, and shortlisted for the 2020 Miles Franklin literary prize; Ghost River, winner of the 2016 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Indigenous Writing; and Blood, which was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award in 2012. 

He is also the author of Shadowboxing and four short story collections, Dark As Last Night, Father’s Day, The Promise and Common People; and the poetry collections, Broken Teeth and Whisper Songs. In 2017 he was awarded the Patrick White Literary Award for his contribution to Australian literature. Tony Birch is also an activist, historian and essayist. His website is: tony-birch.com

About the book

“A profound allegory of good and evil, and a deep exploration of human interaction, black and white, alternately beautiful and tender, cruel and unsettling.”—Guardian

Australia’s leading indigenous storyteller makes his American debut with this immersive and deeply resonant novel, set in the 1960s, that explores the lengths we’ll go to save the people we love—an unforgettable story of one native Australian family and the racist government that threatens to separate them.

Odette Brown has lived her entire life on the fringes of Deane, a small Australian country town. Dark secrets simmer beneath the surface of Deane—secrets that could explain why Odette’s daughter, Lila, left her one-year-old daughter, Sissy, and never came back, or why Sissy has white skin when her family is Aboriginal.

For thirteen years, Odette has quietly raised her granddaughter without drawing notice from welfare authorities who remove fair-skinned Aboriginal children from their families. But the arrival of a new policeman with cruel eyes and a rigid by-the-book attitude throws the Brown women’s lives off-kilter. It will take all of Odette’s courage and cunning to save Sissy from the authorities, and maybe even lead her to find her daughter.

Bolstered by love, smarts, and the strength of their ancestors, Odette and Sissy are an indomitable force, handling threats to their family and their own identities with grace and ingenuity, while never losing hope for themselves and their future.

In The White Girl, Miles Franklin Award-nominated author Tony Birch illuminates Australia’s devastating post-colonial past—notably the government’s racist policy of separating Indigenous children from their families, known today as the Stolen Generations—and introduces a tight-knit group of charming, inspiring characters who remind us of our shared humanity, and that kindness, hope, and love have no limits.

Review

I’m not sure about other readers, but when I read a book about minorities, the indigenous of any country, the oppressed or the vulnerable – just as an example, I often presume the events are historical. When I say historical I mean over a century or more, and I am often dismayed by the reality of the actual truth. That for the majority we are talking recent events, in modern times when the world should have been condemning such oppression and atrocities.

Odette is a fictional example perhaps, but I think probably a softer version of the awful truth of the way the colonisers have treated the indigenous people of Australia. This story takes place in the 1960s – a long time after the first early colonial period of certain parts of Australia. In a Podunk rural town where white and indigenous are still segregated. The indigenous people live outside in a specified area and are only allowed into the white town on a specific day and for a short period of time. 

Odette takes care of her young granddaughter, who has now reached an age where her presence has become of interest to both the authorities, and she is also vulnerable to the predators who perceive indigenous women especially, as of no worth or chattel of the white man.

The young girl is fair-skinned, and the authorities feel it is their duty to remove those children – white passing – in order to place them in an environment conducive to a less native and savage environment. To save their souls. Odette starts to realise that the danger her family has always faced is starting to wander in the path of her granddaughter. 

This book should be on more prize lists –  I am surprised it isn’t and that it hasn’t had more traction this side of the pond. It is an incredible piece of work, which is only more admirable when you consider the subtlety of the approach to the sensitive topics in this story. The atmosphere is a stark reminder of reality, and indeed the reader almost walks alongside Odette, that’s how vivid a picture the author presents.

The displacement, essentially kidnap, of whole generations of indigenous of children has burdened further generations with generational trauma. Children who survived the system and never saw their families again, parents who never got over having their children stolen. At this point it is important to note that just recently the reality of what really happened to the majority of these children is being unearthed. The mass graves, the unmarked graves of so many abused and neglected indigenous children. It’s more than a tragedy, it’s a disgrace – absolutely unforgivable.

I wouldn’t hesitate to read or recommend this author after reading this. As I was reading I was envisaging the screen version of this – I would love to see Deborah Mailman make Odette come to life. Either way this story needs more circulation, so more people can read it. It’s poignant, it is a story that grabs you tightly as it tears you into the murky depths of colonial guilt and the criminal atrocities committed under the auspice of malevolent colonialism and white supremacy. And I might add – the author only skims the surface of the aforementioned.

Buy The White Girl at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏: ‎HarperVia pub date 28 April 2022). Buy at Amazon com. At Harper Collins.

#BlogTour We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza

It’s a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza .
‘Told from alternating perspectives, an evocative and riveting novel about the lifelong bond between two women, one Black and one white, whose friendship is indelibly altered by a tragic event—a powerful and poignant exploration of race in America today and its devastating impact on ordinary lives.’

About the Author/s

Christine Pride is a writer, editor, and longtime publishing veteran. She’s held editorial posts at many different trade imprints, including Doubleday, Broadway, Crown, Hyperion, and Simon & Schuster. As an editor, Christine has published a range of books, with a special emphasis on inspirational stories and memoirs, including numerous New York Times bestsellers. As a freelance editorial consultant, she does select editing and proposal/content development, as well as teaching and coaching, and pens a regular column—“Race Matters”—for Cup of Jo. She lives in New York City. Follow @cpride on Twitter, Visit christinepride.com

Jo Piazza is an award-winning journalist, editor and podcast host. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Marie Claire, Glamour, and other notable publications. She is also the author of Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win, How to Be Married, The Knockoff, Fitness Junkie, and If Nuns Ruled the World. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and two small children. Follow @JoPiazza on Twitter, Listen to under-the-influence-with-jo-piazza

About the book

Jen and Riley have been best friends since kindergarten. As adults, they remain as close as sisters, though their lives have taken different directions. Jen married young, and after years of trying, is finally pregnant. Riley pursued her childhood dream of becoming a television journalist and is poised to become one of the first Black female anchors of the top news channel in their hometown of Philadelphia.

But the deep bond they share is severely tested when Jen’s husband, a city police officer, is involved in the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager. Six months pregnant, Jen is in freefall as her future, her husband’s freedom, and her friendship with Riley are thrown into uncertainty. Covering this career-making story, Riley wrestles with the implications of this tragic incident for her Black community, her ambitions, and her relationship with her lifelong friend.

Like Tayari Jones’s An American Marriage and Jodi Picoult’s Small Great Things, We Are Not Like Them explores complex questions of race and how they pervade and shape our most intimate spaces in a deeply divided world. But at its heart, it’s a story of enduring friendship—a love that defies the odds even as it faces its most difficult challenges. 

Review

On the surface Riley and Jen are best friends – sisters from different families. Their incredible bond threatens to be severed when Jen’s husband is involved in shooting – the shooting of an unarmed young black teenager. As a journalist Riley finds herself in the middle of the incident, as a black woman she finds herself at the opposite side of the dispute – against her friend and her husband.

There is no doubt there is a disparity between white people and black people, which is influenced by a system built on colonialism, and the differences are driven by systemic racism in said system. There is a lack of comprehension by white people when it comes to understanding white privilege. 

I understand why minorities, marginalised groups and black people find this frustrating and believe it isn’t their job to explain or help those who don’t understand why it is a privilege. The reality however is that without someone pointing out why it exists and how it influences lives, careers, academic paths, choices and every single situation – there will be no real change.

White mothers don’t have to teach their white children, but specifically boys and men, to act in a certain way in order to hopefully not generate a stereotypical response from the authorities and often the public in general. Don’t be furtive, listen and obey, don’t reach for your pockets or move quickly. All things a black mother will say to her son in an attempt to keep him safe, because the reality is the likelihood of a black male being racially profiled, stereotyped and singled out are outrageously high.

It’s a book and dialogue that is needed to move forward and change a system that isn’t equal – a worldview that is dismissed, ridiculed and rationalised by those on the longer end of the stick. An important exploration of a friendship that is based on one person submitting to the status quo and the other being completely unaware of what life is really like for her friend.

It’s definitely a book that will generate discussion, which is good. It’s also one I wouldn’t hesitate to buy for people who really need to read it.

Buy We Are Not Like Them at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏: ‎HQ pub date 5 Oct. 2021. Buy at Amazon com.

#BlogTour A Deadly Divide by Ausma Zehanat Khan

It’s really is a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour A Deadly Divide by Ausma Zehanat Khan. I really enjoy this series. Khan is a gem of a writer.About the Author

Ausma Zehanat Khan is a novelist, human rights lawyer, lecturer and commentator. She holds a PhD in international human rights law with a research specialization in military intervention and war crimes in the Balkans. After graduating from Trafalgar Castle, Ausma completed her B.. in English literature and sociology at the University of Toronto. She went on to complete her LL.B. and LL.M. at the University of Ottowa.

Previously, Ausma served as Editor in Chief of Muslim Girl magazine, the first magazine to reshape the conversation about Muslim women across North America. Her debut novel, The Unquiet Dead, won the Barry Award, the Arthur Ellis Award and the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award for Best First Novel. It is followed by The Language of Secrets, Among the Ruins and No Place of Refuge in the Esa Khattak and Rachel Getty mystery series. She is a longtime community activist and writer. Born in Britain, Ausma lived in Canada for many years before recently becoming an American citizen. She lives in Colorado with her husband.

Follow @AusmaZehanat @noexitpress on Twitter, on Goodreads, on Amazon, Visit ausmazehanatkhan.com, Buy A Deadly Divide

About the book

In the aftermath of a mass shooting in a mosque, small town tensions run high. Clashes between the Muslim community and a local faction of radical white nationalists are escalating, but who would I have motive and opportunity to commit such a devastating act of violence?

Detectives Esa Khattak and Rachel Getty are assigned to this high-profile case and tasked to ensure the extremely volatile situation doesn’t worsen. but when leaked CCTV footage exposes a shocking piece of evidence, both sides of the divide are enraged.

As Khattak and Getty work though a mounting list of suspects, they realise there’s far more going on in this small town than anyone first thought.

Review

I can’t say it often enough about this series and the author – Ausma Zehanat Khan should be on your radar. The writing is spectacular, the characters and storylines are culturally aware and authentic. The politics, religion, culture, ideologies and just in general the socio-political topics she weaves into the crimes and the lives of her characters, are astute and relevant.

This story is absolutely in keeping with the problems in the world at the moment. The rise or re-emergence of the far right, white supremacists marching the streets, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia have become the norm instead of rare glimpses of hatred and ignorance.

Khattak and Getty land in the midst of a nest of simmering hatred, bigotry and racism. A local mosque becomes the scene of a mass shooting. The local police are quick to point the finger at a young man who fits the stereotypical prejudice they often fall back on when it comes to solving crimes.

Esa and Rachel are alarmed to find there has been a build-up to this incident, things that show a pattern of escalation – one the police chose to ignore. This implies systemic hatred and the fact they haven’t brought an active neo-Nazi group to heel puts all the events in a different light.

It’s a crime thriller with culture, race, religion and ideology at the centre. A brutally honest account of ignorance and hatred in our day and age, which the author pinpoints which frightening accuracy.

Khan doesn’t want her stories, perhaps this one in particular, to come across ‘as message books or as didactic’, which they don’t but they are an eye-opener. There are many words, sentences and paragraphs that are quote worthy. This book has a different feel to it. There seems to be an awareness of how important each word is, perhaps because the topic is so divisive and controversial. The fast-paced action is replaced with reflection and a head-on confrontation with the truth.

Don’t be surprised if some of the dialogue is difficult to read. It’s vile, ignorant and frankly unworthy of a world that is very much aware of how the persecution of a specific race or people can end in genocide. It’s important to speak up. Too many look the other way or laugh things off as minor irritations. They aren’t. Tell that to Holocaust survivors being confronted with swastikas and ‘Juden Raus’ again. Tell the Muslims being told to go home, spat at and all thrown in to the same category as terrorists, to just forget about it. We are all accountable when we choose to ignore hatred, because confronting it is too uncomfortable.

Once again Khan gives readers a compelling and driven read. A fantastic writer I wouldn’t hesitate to buy or recommend.

Buy A Deadly Divide at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: No Exit Press; pub date 6 Feb. 2020. Buy at Amazon com.

Read my reviews of The Language of Secrets, Among The Ruins and  No Place of Refuge by Ausma Zehanat Khan.

#BlogTour Birdie and Jude by Phyllis H. Moore

Today it’s my turn on the BlogTour Birdie and Jude by Phyllis H. Moore. It’s literary fiction with elements of racism and homophobia, and yet ultimately it is a tale of kindness and hope.About the Author

Phyllis H. Moore wants to live life experiences more than once: doing it, writing about it, and reading about it. The atmosphere of the south draws her in and repels her. The characters are rich with dysfunction and redemption, real. She’s had two careers and two retirements.

Both careers gave her inspiration for her novels: The Sabine Series, Sabine, Billy’s Story, Josephine’s Journals and Secrets of Dunn House, Opal’s Story, Tangled, a Southern Gothic Yarn, and The Bright Shawl, Colors of Tender Whispers, The Ember Months, Birdie & Jude, and an anthology of spooky short stories inspired by real places and events, The Bridge on Jackson Road. In 2018 she also released a new genre for her, A Dickens of a Crime, a Meg Miller Cozy Mystery. She has authored one nonfiction book, Retirement, Now What? Phyllis has been published by Caffeinated Press in the anthology, Brewed Awakenings 2, Fifteen Tales to Jolt Your Mind Awake.

Phyllis is a retired social worker and former owner/operator of a small bed and breakfast. She’s lived in the rural areas and cities of south Texas. She currently lives on Galveston Island with her husband, Richard.

Follow on @Phyllishmoore on Twitter, on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Goodreads, Visit phyllishmoore.com, Buy Birdie and Jude

About the book

A moving novel of loss, regret, denial, and discovery on Galveston Island, from the author of Opal’s Story and The Ember Months.

Birdie has lived to regret many of her decisions, but she doesn’t regret offering a stranger, Jude, shelter from an approaching hurricane. Their serendipitous meeting will form a bond that will change their lives forever.

In a character driven story with memories of the protests and inequality plaguing the 1960’s, Birdie’s reached middle age and questions her life. Jude is striking out on her own, but has been derailed by a fatal accident claiming her only friend. Although their backgrounds and lives are vastly different, they recognize something in the other that forges a friendship.

As their relationship solidifies, they share glimpses of their pasts. Birdie is a product of the ’60’s, an aging hippie, with a series of resentments. She had a sheltered childhood in an upper class family. Her parents longed to see her make the Texas Dip at the Mardi Gras ball. Jude, however, entered foster care as an infant. Her parents, victims of a murder/suicide, left her and her siblings orphaned and separated.

There is something about their connection that strikes Birdie as familiar. Can souls know each other in different lives? Birdie struggles with the awareness that she has had regrets and hasn’t lived an authentic life, while Jude faces an uncomfortable truth about her own. It has all the feels.Review

It’s a beautiful story. A tale of souls meeting and recognising each other. Proving that life is often more than what science and logic purports it to be. Sometimes there is more to life than logic dictates.

I enjoyed, and was relieved, the fact Moore didn’t bring that sense of connection, belonging and souls back to faith or religion. There is enough space for thoughts of the inexplicable, without dragging mythology or religious beliefs written by man and imposed by man, onto the beauty of the ethereal plane.

The relationship between Birdie and June is founded on something we have forgotten to listen to – instinct. Birdie stopping on that beach and offering a hand is kindness, also something society seems to be lacking at the moment. Asking nothing in return and just helping another human being in their time of despair and need.

The recognition of connection through time is there, but doesn’t interfere with reality. Instead it is the conduit to Birdie’s past, more specifically her childhood. As the reader is taken back into time, here and there, we meet an entirely different Birdie. The Birdie she should have been, but was never allowed to be. The Birdie who saw a sameness, a connection and a friend. There was no skin colour between Henry and Birdie. Others brought their skewed ideology and racism to the two of them.

This story has the same emotional draw that Beaches has. Just two people and a true depth of feeling. At the same time it confronts the reader with uncomfortable truths about the past. Racism, homophobia and oppression. It makes this a tale of a life lost, a lifetime of opportunities denied, because Birdie didn’t fit the stereotype of being a straight, white and black-hating gal.

It’s literary fiction with elements of racism and homophobia, and yet ultimately it is a tale of kindness and hope. I really enjoyed it.

Buy Birdie and Jude at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Buy at Amazon com.

Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke

In a small town in Eastern Texas the body of white woman and black lawyer from Chicago are found. The presumption is that Michael killed the poor white girl, and hey he must be guilty because he is black and in the same tiny town, hence him also ending up dead.

Darren Matthews, a black Texas Ranger, is asked to take a look into the situation, despite being on suspension, and ends up in a nest full of racists with no regard for his authority. Darren puts his life on the line to discover the truth, in a town living in the past ruled by men with secrets and men who believe being black equates to being sub-human.

Considering the rise of racial tensions in America in the last few years this story is quite poignant. When I say rise I think the correct term would be a resurfacing and less denial of the racial problems in the States. Issues, which have always existed, but the inhabitants and the media like to downplay and minimise. Now black people are standing up and roaring their outrage loud enough for the world to hear.

Reading the reality of the racial tension and segregation suggests that nothing has changed since the days of Jim Crow laws, and how can they when racist institutions like the KKK are accepted under the guise of freedom of speech and democracy. A complete paradox when white supremacists call for discrimination, oppression and lack of freedom for any person who isn’t white.

It is hate speech, hate crimes and a perfect example of autocratic rule. Racists do not really understand democracy, you can’t advocate for the opposite of that political system, and yet want to profit from the freedoms that come with democracy at the same time.

Locke incorporates important civil rights issues in this well-written story about racism and hatred. She is definitely an author to keep an eye out for.

Buy Bluebird, Bluebird at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.

Publisher: Serpent’s Tail

Follow @atticalocke @serpentstail Visit atticalocke.com

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

Sing, Unburied, Sing is a heart-wrenching reading experience. It is the kind of book you may have to put down for a moment, because the content is upsetting at times. Simultaneously it’s also so compelling you can’t tear yourself away from it.

It tells the incredibly sad story of Jojo, the biracial child of a black mother and a white father. Mother spends the majority of her time getting high and his father is behind bars most of the time. Jojo and his baby sister are cared for by his mother’s parents, mainly because Leonie neglects them and they don’t exist for the white side of the family.

Leonie decides to take the children along on a road trip to pick their father up from prison, which becomes a catalyst for fragile relationships and tensions between all of them. Throughout the whole ordeal I just wanted to reach out and help Jojo and his baby sister. To save them from the brutal reality of their existence.

Ward has created a passionate and lyrical vision, which is simultaneously fraught with emotion and tempered by the brusque reactions of the characters. The reader is confronted with the harsh realities of racism, child abuse and neglect, and drug abuse.

It sings the silent song of all the men, women and children who have fallen prey to hatred and injustice. The forgotten who are trapped in an endless hell that is neither here nor there, because they can’t cross over or find peace. The ones who will never have any kind of justice.

It is both magical and mystical in equal measure. It is an outstanding piece of literature.

Buy Sing, Unburied, Sing at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.

Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2018

Follow @jesmimi 

Follow @BloomsburyBooks

Visit jesmimi.blogspot,co,uk

Underground Airlines by Ben H. Winters

The most worrying element of this story is the plausibility of this scenario. What could have been and what could still be.

The topic of racism is at the forefront of society, as we watch the civil unrest in the US rise and the topic of refugees cause conflict in Europe.

The truth is racism has always been an underlying issue in the US. The civil movement, segregation and slavery isn’t really that long ago. So this story is en-vogue in a sense, and the premise is a red flag with absolutely realistic scenarios.

In this book slavery was never abolished. in fact it has become a well oiled industry. It is also supposedly a humane industry, but hey it’s slavery and greedy men will always exploit the vulnerable.

Instead of humane treatment, the slaves, known as PBL’s ‘person bound by labour’ suffer pain and humiliation at the hands of their captors. Some of them are even killed, despite it being illegal to do so.

Victor was once a PBL who escaped the injustice of his situation only to be forced into a new kind of slavery. He is what the Kapos were to the concentration camp inmates. He is a betrayer to his own people. It’s his job to hunt down the ones who are lucky enough to escape.

I like the fact Winters has had the gumption to take the idea back to the beginning of the end and change the historical narrative. This is what half of the country wanted and what it could possibly have evolved into under a different set of circumstances.

To be completely frank the Pigmentation Taxonomies really struck a chord with me. It or the descriptions bring the inhumanity of it all to the forefront: moderate charcoal, brass highlights #41, moderate chestnut, sunflower highlights #142 or twilight, purple tone #122.  It objectifies all of them in a way I can’t even begin to fathom and could never relate to.

Underground Airlines serves as a stark reminder of the race issues that simmer under the surface and how much damage the social philosophy of eugenics has caused and continues to cause. We are one race, the human race.

As I said, it’s a powerful thought-provoking premise and read.

Buy Underground Airlines at Amazon UK or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.

The Painted Ocean by Gabriel Packard

I can’t decide whether the writing style was intentional or not. It wouldn’t be the first time a author has chosen to write as if the child or teen is writing to make the story seem more authentic and in tune with the character. In this case it doesn’t gel with the overall description of the main character, and neither do her actions.

Shruti is supposedly so intelligent and academically gifted that she could pick an Ivy League college or university of her choice. Bearing that in mind she is as thick as two planks of wood nailed together when it comes to her life choices.

Before I go into the story let me go back to the style of writing, language, grammar and speech in general. Even for a supposed child’s writing it was annoying. It should have evolved into something more structured, as she grew older, but it remained at the same level throughout the book. I don’t think I have ever seen so many chapters, paragraphs and sentences all on the same page, start with And.

I focused on the plot itself, which started off really well and if Packard had stayed with Shruti and her need for family vs the betrayal by her mother, this could have been a lot better.

The first half deals with racism, bullying, neglect and the cultural relevance of girl’s in the Indian society. The rejection of Shruti by her own family leads to the change in her behaviour, lifestyle and personality. She goes from being a loved child to a number in the system. Nobody wants her, nobody cares and no person will look for her if she disappears.

All of that leaves her wide open for the manipulation by so-called friends. It’s also how she ends up in a no hope situation with her ‘friend’ and a complete nutcase. I’m not sure why Packard felt as if the plot needed such an extreme change in direction, it felt like two plots in one book.

It had some very good ideas and was full of potential, but was let down by the writing style and the frankly bizarre end scenario on the island.

Buy The Painted Ocean at Amazon UK or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.

Memoirs of a Dead White Chick by Lennox Randon

A middle-aged white woman from our era inside the body of teenage black boy in the late 1850’s.

An interesting premise, and one I presumed would be written with the agenda of shedding light on the plight of slaves in America.

I expected Randon to make his point with a sledgehammer and leave no stones unturned and certainly take no prisoners.

Instead Randon is subtle in his approach, and it actually does seem as if the story is written by a middle-aged white woman.

Randon depicts the struggle between North and South before the outbreak of the civil war. How different the opinions are about slavery or the plight of slaves from one state to the other. Treated like little more than property, with no voice, no rights and no possible end to their situation in sight. Families ripped apart and subject to the whims, moods and brutality of sadists.

Eleanor experiences the injustice, the decrepit conditions and the inhumanity towards her, all because the colour of her skin has now made her a second class human being. She accepts her new surroundings and circumstances without so much as a second thought. I think I would be filled with rage at the injustice of being treated like property or worse than an animal.

I often wonder what I would be able to remember if I ever ended up in the past. Would I be able to remember anything useful? How Penicillin was discovered, the lotto numbers in a certain year, what invention to invest in or how create electricity. Would I be able to resist changing the course of history?

The one element of the story that didn’t gel completely right for me was Eleanor transforming into a surgeon or medical expert at one point. Time-travel or soul travel does not equate to the acquisition of brand new skills, such as medical knowledge.

I enjoyed the idea and admit to being surprised by the way Randon decided to let the idea speak for itself instead of using the idea as a tool or a voice.

Thank you to Smith Publicity for my copy of Memoirs of a Dead White Chick.

Buy Memoirs of a Dead White Chick at Amazon UK or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.

Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley

Not many books make me seethe with anger. The injustice and blind ignorance in this story does, especially because the main plot is based on historical fact. Unfortunately the issue of civil rights is still relevant, alive and kicking even after all theses years.

I cannot even fathom treating others with such a level of contempt, hate and anger, just because they have a different skin tone to my own. Perhaps because I was raised to treat all people equally and base my interactions or judgements about them on their person, their words and their actions, and not on their race or religion. Children are not born hating others. They are taught to hate. Racism is indoctrinated into generations of people and they in turn repeat the insane cycle with their own offspring.

Again, I just have to repeat, I cannot comprehend how any person could think they are superior to another person based on the shade of their skin. It really does boggle my mind.

I wonder how many of these ‘white’ people read or watch history programmes or read books like this and recognise themselves in the role of the racist? Many of the teens, children and even adults involved in the events surrounding the civil rights movement are still alive. Do they still believe the mantras of the bigots or have they acknowledged any wrong doing on their part?

Talley has fed some of the frankly quite ignorant and insane statements people believed and repeated, during that time, into the story. For instance, ‘Negro brains are naturally predisposed to be submissive.’ Very reminiscent of eugenics during the Nazi era.

When you read the dates of events and realise that on the grand scheme of time we aren’t talking about very long ago. Based on recent events I would say there is still a huge underlying issue regarding civil rights bubbling beneath the surface of the US.

Talley has mixed two controversial topics together to create a firecracker of a story, which is meant to stretch the boundaries of your understanding of these issues. The reader practically sits inside the heads of both Linda and Sarah , thereby giving a complete view of the issue from both sides.

The events take place during the desegregation in schools in the late 50’s early 60’s. Talley has added the element of not only an interracial relationship, but also that of two girls. A triple whammy for the period of time we are talking about. Just so we are clear none of them should be controversial or a problem. Not race, skin colour or sexual orientation.

I can only imagine how scared the children and young teens must have been at the time. Walking through crowds of violent, abusive people, who were bent on getting rid of them no matter the cost. Being subjected to torrents of verbal and physical abuse, being spat on and called an assortment of demeaning names. Day in and day out, a war on the front-lines.

Within this story it becomes apparent that some of the children or teens being integrated into the school, feel as if they are being pushed into the part of role model and spearhead for the movement. Making a point on behalf of their parents, for the world and the future children to come. Under those difficult circumstance anyone would have crumbled and given in, however I am glad they didn’t. It also puts the civil rights movement into perspective. How courageous these people must have been to stand up for their rights and to weather this unfathomable hatred from each corner.

Sarah is a girl just like any other girl in the process of discovering her sexual identity. Her confusion, her guilt, her shame, all emotions that Linda shares, which shows the identical nature of the human beast, regardless of skin colour.

Linda fights with her own belief system, the reader gets a keen insight into her internal battles. She likes Sarah, more than likes her, which must mean Sarah is different from the rest, right? Of course eventually she comes to the conclusion that perhaps what she has been taught her entire lifetime is wrong. Wrong on every single level, and in turn that realisation makes her regard the people around her in a completely different way.

This is a book I would recommend as scholastic material to teach children what it is like to be confronted with racism, bigotry and hate. It will also give a good insight into the doubts of the indoctrinated few, who manage to free themselves from the repetitive cycle of hatred.

I could go on for hours and pages about how good I think this book is, which of course I recommend you read for yourself.

Buy As I Descended at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.

Read As I Descended by Robin Talley