Bernice L. McFadden

Filled with heartache, yet ending on a high note, beautifully written and compelling to the point that I didn't want to put it down, this is a wonderful book.

Nine-year-old Abeo lives in her wealthy family's compound in Africa. When Abeo's grandfather dies, her mother and father move her grandmother into the home with them. When her baby brother falls ill, and her father is accused of embezzlement and is suspended from his job, rendering them without enough income to maintain their show more lifestyle, Abeo's father believes his family has fallen under a curse.

Although Abeo's family is Catholic, her grandmother is not, and believes that the only way to release the curse is to sacrifice the first-born child - Abeo. At first Abeo's father resists this idea, but after further setbacks, he agrees and steals away in the middle of the night to deposit Abeo into servitude at one of the many local shrines where young girls harvest corn by day and are sex slaves by night.

The story tells the horror that Abeo and the other girls in her hut suffer without being gaudy or sleazy. The reader is disgusted and offended by the acts committed against these young girls, rather than by what could have been much more blatant descriptions. The gift this author has by keeping tactful throughout this heart-wrenching tale rises above other sordid pieces of writing, and reinforces the serious nature of what is happening to these girls.

After many years of servitude, many years of suffering, Abeo is rescued and tries to assimilate back into real life. It is not easy, and her suffering is far from finished. But there is always hope.

I won a copy of this book from LibraryThing. show less

This was a very raw, powerful, and emotional read. It moves back and forth in time between the childhood of Kenzie, who grew up with alcoholism and abuse, and her present-day struggle, as an adult, to reconcile with her past and her own alcoholism. The writing transports the reader into the horrifying world of addiction and abuse, and honestly captures how it is perceived by, and affects, children. Nothing is held back or watered down, and in places it hits you right in the gut, just the way show more great writing is supposed to. It was impossible to put down, even when it felt like too much to bear. show less

Loving Donovan is a quick and easy read with anything but quick and easy subject matter. The lightness of touch of the difficult subject matter by the author left me initially wanting more depth. After letting the book marinate for a day or two, however, I realized that this unconventional love story is very sad and affecting and lingers in the subconscious. Ironically, I finished the book on Valentine's Day. This story is a reminder that each of us carries around a unique history that show more ultimately runs through our blood, bones, heart, and mind. That history will have a great impact on our interactions with others and will, undoubtedly, influence the success or failure of our relationships. Bernice L. McFadden makes you question the "why." show less

This is a compelling story of a difficult childhood and the drive that propelled the women of the author's family into better lives. Bernice's father Robert was one of the most awful men imaginable - comparable in his meanness to Safiya Sinclair's father in her memoir, How to Say Babylon, and both of them men of the Caribbean. Most of the women are married to unreliable men, with awful repercussions for the children, especially the girls, but they find their inner strength and support and show more save each other. Bernice knows early on that she needs to save herself and leaves Brooklyn for a boarding school in PA, and then takes a job in travel and tourism until encountering Alice Walker and Toni Morrison and seeing her path to success. There's a helpful family tree included, and the reader yearns to know more about all of those first born girls.

Quote: "If damned if you do and damned if you don't were a people, those people would be Black." show less