I loved the female centric nature of the novel and the way that while the women may make choices that others don’t agree with the attitude is not I told you so but what do you need. We also see gang violence and how that impacts a community.

In one particular case we see how violence as part of the army begins to translate to violence at home. We see WWII, the twin towers and parts of the war on terror. The book explores the impact of world events and how they have affected the North family. The way the book is told means we know the outcome of some events before we know what the events are for example we know that Joan’s grandfather is lynched but we are a heck of a way through the switching narratives before we learn why.

The narrative is told from the view point of female only characters from different generations but all related to each other. My Thoughts: In some ways this is a great story of girl power in others it is a painful exploration of race relations in the US from 1943 to 2003. Inspired by the author’s own family history, Memphis–the Black fairy tale she always wanted to read–explores the complexity of what we pass down, not only in our families, but in our country: police brutality and justice, powerlessness and freedom, fate and forgiveness, doubt and faith, sacrifice and love. That the sole weapon she needs is her paintbrush. It is only when Joan comes to see herself as a continuation of a long matrilineal tradition–and the women in her family as her guides to healing–that she understands that her life does not have to be defined by vengeance. Unfolding over seventy years through a chorus of voices, Memphis weaves back and forth in time to show how the past and future are forever intertwined. Longing to become an artist, Joan pours her rage and grief into sketching portraits of the women of North Memphis–including their enigmatic neighbor Miss Dawn, who seems to know something about curses. This wasn’t the first time violence altered the course of Joan’s family’s trajectory, and she knows it won’t be the last. Half a century ago, Joan’s grandfather built this majestic house in the historic Black neighborhood of Douglass–only to be lynched days after becoming the first Black detective in Memphis.

In the summer of 1995, ten-year-old Joan, her mother, and her younger sister flee her father’s violence, seeking refuge at her mother’s ancestral home in Memphis. Synopsis from Goodreads: A spellbinding debut novel tracing three generations of a Southern Black family and one daughter’s discovery that she has the power to change her family’s legacy. This ARC was provided by John Murray Press (via NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review.

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