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A woman journeys into a submerged world of gods and myth to save her home in this powerful historical fantasy that shines a light on the drowned Black towns of the American South. “Our home began, as all things do, with a wish.” Jane Edwards hasn’t spoken since she was eleven years old, when armed riders expelled her family from their hometown along with every other Black resident. Now, twelve years later, she’s found a haven in the all-Black town of Awenasa. But the construction of a dam promises to wash her home under the waters of the new lake. Jane will do anything to save the community that sheltered her. So, when a man with uncanny abilities arrives in town asking strange questions, she wonders if he might be the key. But as the stranger hints at gods and ancestral magic, Jane is captivated by a bigger mystery. She knows this man. Only the last time she saw him, he was dead. His body laid to rest in a rushing river. Who is the stranger and what is he really doing in Awenasa? To find those answers, Jane will journey into a sunken world, a land of capricious gods and unsung myths, of salvation and dreams made real. But the flood waters are rising. To gain the miracle she desires, Jane will have to find her voice again and finally face the trauma of the past. For more from Leslye Penelope, check out The Monsters We Defy.
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This was such a cool concept for a book with the blending of history and fantasy. This started off strong, but I grew less interested as the plot went on. The book did feel like two separate books, a historical fiction and a magic realism/fantasy story, with neither side being explored as much as I’d like.
I also had a gripe about Jane’s arc with her selective mutism, and the ableism directed at Jane from her sister.
There were a number of cruel remarks from Grace where she would tell Jane to just try harder, or she would downright refuse to read Jane’s notes. Others in her life learned to sign on some level at least to communicate with her. Once Jane releases her guilt though, she gets her voice back, which I understand the intention of that, but I don’t like how Grace never received pushback on her rhetoric. She never tried to understand her sister, she just wished for Jane to be the one to communicate verbally.
This was never addressed in any meaningful way, and maybe it would have been if there were less elements going on overall in the fantasy plot. I feel that way about a few of the character’s relationships and their developments.
All of that said, it’s still such a great concept, and I’ll definitely be researching more of this history.