The writing is competent, crisp and textured, with plenty of setting details interwoven with the development of the characters.
Four point-of-view characters, Olivia, Helen, Ruby, and Amy-Rose, each have their own desires and obstacles. They interact convincingly with each other and with their social milieu in 1910 America. If you like ball gowns and jewels, there are those in plenty. Romantic elements and social justice elements mingle with industrial development to give context to the changing times and their families' socio-economic class. The cultural context is well established for Black characters in the North, and the sense of impending menace from Jim Crow laws moving up from the South, threatening all the freedoms they have grown accustomed to, is well and truly established without being overbearing.
I'm highly impressed and intrigued with the opening chapters and can't wait to read the whole book.
Four point-of-view characters, Olivia, Helen, Ruby, and Amy-Rose, each have their own desires and obstacles. They interact convincingly with each other and with their social milieu in 1910 America. If you like ball gowns and jewels, there are those in plenty. Romantic elements and social justice elements mingle with industrial development to give context to the changing times and their families' socio-economic class. The cultural context is well established for Black characters in the North, and the sense of impending menace from Jim Crow laws moving up from the South, threatening all the freedoms they have grown accustomed to, is well and truly established without being overbearing.
I'm highly impressed and intrigued with the opening chapters and can't wait to read the whole book.