Review: this book manages to bring a tumultuous time in America’s history into an easily readable story
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 24, 2014
I was approached by the author duo of Abby L. Vandiver and Kathryn Dionne to proofread this book before the final print button was pushed.  In a few hours I had run through the story, totally gripped by the characters and their emotional connection that spanned miles and years, without ever meeting.  Starting in 1958 when civil rights was just starting to make an impact on the nation as a whole, the interjection of several different scenes and references to luminaries of the day helped to ground the book firmly in place while providing a solid sense for the reader of the fears, concerns and feel of the time.Beatrice (Beanie) is just 15 and has been ‘traded’ into a marriage with an older and richer man by her parents. Sadly a not uncommon scenario for girls of that age in her small Utah community, she is dragged from all that she knows and loves and thrust into a ready-made family with two existing wives and several children: at the bottom of the totem pole.  While the story could have been a happier one for her situation: her new husband is more than a touch dictatorial and abusive, after a beating she tries to remember the telephone number of a beloved piano teacher: assuming she will save her.The phone rings, and Adeline answers. She is clearly not the person Beanie wishes to speak with, and yet she can’t help but feel for the child in an untenable situation.  But all is not well in Adeline’s world: she is the wife of a successful, if not entirely likable man, and as a strong supporter of the Democratic party, her ties to both Boston and the Kennedys is one that she has cultivated and nurtured.Told in alternating points of view, the story hops from Boston to Utah, to Chicago and Mississippi as the lives and experiences of the women unfold to provide uniquely voiced and emotive perspectives on their lives, their circumstances, and even the changes that are slowly building as the country is dragged into the first tentative steps toward racial equality.Beanie is a character that will climb into your heart and stay there: from innocent child to determined young woman, befriending all who she meets: her honest appreciation of those around her, while often placing her in danger epitomizes her determination that racial equality is right and only fair.  Despite her frustration with Adeline’s cautionary words and some rash judgments, her character is a wonderful combination of determination, brains and heart: exactly what many of those who were among the Freedom Riders displayed in those tense times.Adeline takes a bit of warming up to: she is hiding huge secrets from everyone in her life, reader included.  Slowly as the story unfolds, we see a deeply conflicted woman who has come close to losing who she really is, long before she finally finds the courage to be.  Her story and life are also tragic, as the threads weave together readers are provided the opportunity to see the emotional toll that her choices have wrought.  For those who think they “know” all the stories of the late 1950’s into the 60’s through the eras of Evers, King, Kennedy and even Johnson, this is a new look at the people: ordinary people who could (and most likely did) live similar experiences and came out the other side unbroken, but not exactly whole.A gripping read that provides a fictional, yet emotionally accessible entrée into the time, historically accurate and laden with names of scions of the movement, this book manages to bring a tumultuous time in America’s history into an easily readable story that will encourage many to investigate further.I purchased a copy of this title for my own library. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.