Review: harrowing, heartbreaking, honest, inspiring, beautiful story
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 1, 2013
"Olivia, Mourning" and its sequel, The Way the World Is, comprise a beautifully written, haunting and unforgettable story of Olivia and the man she loves but cannot have because their world isn't ready for mixed marriage. The tender and lovely relationship that builds in Book One is torn asunder due to the interventions of other people, who commit unthinkable evil while espousing obedience to the Bible, though it's painfully obvious to everyone but themselves that they got religion all backward.The sequel is a little slow to get going, but once it does, Olivia accomplishes great things, from acquiring a Bed and Breakfast to reuniting an emancipated slave with his wife, to risking her own life to help more slaves to freedom. The story is filled with danger and suspense, the horrors of slavery, the courage of those who sacrificed so much to end slavery at last.And of course the story does show us what's become of Mourning, the man Olivia loved and lost. Again, to say more risks too many spoilers, but the ending is at once heartbreaking and yet reassuring and uplifting. I wanted to fling the book against the wall, and yet the title is there to remind us: life is what it is. Yael Politis delivers with unsparing honesty a story that is believable and impossible to forget.