Sweetsmoke

Sweetsmoke by screenwriter David Fuller is a novel set during the Civil War that follows Cassius, a favored slave on the Sweetsmoke plantation. When Cassius learns that Emoline Justice, the woman who practically raised him in the absence of his own mother, has been murdered, he investigates who killed her and uncovers a secret intelligence system against the Confederate Army in the process.

Over the course of the story, Fuller delves into slave life and the plight of freed slaves. At one point, a fellow slave tells Cassius, "Free man go wherever he want, Cassius. Free man free to go hungry with no roof over his head, free man free to get picked up by the paddyrollers without a note from the Old Master to keep him safe. Free man free to be whipped like a common slave, since he look no different to the white man." When Cassius travels to the front lines of the war to find the son of his master, the conditions of the Confederate soldiers aren't much different--they are underfed, lack supplies and sufficient uniforms, and one is seen walking around barefoot.

While the story is okay, what I found really interesting about this book was Fuller's use of punctuation. The dialogue of free men and women is shown between quotation marks, but the words of slaves appear without quotation marks. Which means you have to pay attention, but as a copyediting student, I thought such a symbolic use of punctuation was unique and extremely effective at showing how these people were treated as lesser beings.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

I didn't take to Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn right away. I probably would have given up about 100 pages in if a couple of close friends--whose reading tastes I trust--hadn't said this was one of their favorite books. It's not a grand epic tale by any means; it captures the everyday struggles and triumphs of Francie Nolan, a young girl growing up in early twentieth century Brooklyn. And ultimately, it does so with as much heart as other beloved coming-of-age novels like Little Women and Anne of Green Gables.

It was about halfway through the 400-page novel that I really got sucked in: when (spoiler alert!) Francie's father died. It was written so realistically and honestly it was a cathartic experience. After I finished the book, I read an article saying this was an autobiographical novel and that Smith had, in fact, lost her father at an early age.

I feel like I'm one of the few book lovers who didn't read this book growing up, so I won't go too much into the plot. I do want to be a major book nerd for a moment and write about the beautiful Reader's Digest edition that I read. I found this book in a Friends of the Library used bookstore. I thought Reader's Digest only published volumes of several condensed novels. But after confirming this was the full, unabridged text, I bought it. It's a handsome hardcover with 2-color printing throughout, and it's printed on thick cream-colored paper of much higher quality than your typical novel. There are even full-page engraving-style illustrations every so often. I don't think Reader's Digest still releases books like this, but they sure had a good thing going when they did.

The Winter Rose

The Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly is a historical novel set in early turn-of-the-twentieth-century London. Among its many characters are India Selwyn Jones, one of the first graduates of an all-female medical school, and Sid Malone, the leader of the most infamous street gang. The two cross paths . . . his life needs saving, both literally and metaphorically, of course . . . and they fall in love. But in between the tale of star-crossed lovers and a few bodice ripper scenes, this sweeping epic of a novel weaves a pretty good tale. Of the many side characters, there is an up-and-coming politician and his wife, India's dastardly fiance who has political ambitions of his own, a couple of adventurous teens who lead us into the world of early mountain climbing, and India's plucky nurse sidekick.

Like Emma Brown, this book gets a little preachy in its modern day stance on social conditions of the time. India's great dream is to open a free clinic in Whitechapel, a working class neighborhood of London. She defies the doctor she works for by supplying women with contraceptives and actually providing sanitary conditions for her patients. A number of political issues, including women's suffrage, are touched on via the politicians. But mostly this is a love story. It's the kind of book you reach for on a rainy day when you don't want to leave the house--fully engaging and one you can't put down. Not the brainiest of novels, but meaty enough that you don't have to be embarrassed. It lost me a little at the end when the action moves to Africa--due to the kind of coincidences generally found only in nineteenth century novels, several of our characters end up on the continent independently only to cross paths later. But I found myself hoping for a happy ending so much I could overlook this.

I picked this up as a galley because I knew Donnelly from her young adult novel A Northern Light, which is loosely based on An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser. It's about a murder on a lake . . . the details are fuzzy, but it was also a great read. Only 9 books left on the list! Single digits!!