Catfish Alley
Apr 5, 2011
Catfish Alley
Author: Lynne Bryant
Publisher: NAL/Penguin
Publication Date: April 5, 2011
ISBN: 978-0451232281
This is a fantastic book. Loved it. Very well written and keeps you interested from page one. It is always a treat to come across a book with "substance" along with great character development.
Roxanne Reeves is a woman who has risen above her beginnings in life and has spent the majority of her adulthood hiding where she's from and who she is. She is all about making the right impression. She married very well, sits on the right committees, says the appropriate things. She also feels very trapped, lonely and confused.
As she holds a committee meeting for the restoration society a newcomer to the group questions why they don't add African American homes and buildings to their yearly historical tour. Before Roxanne knows what's happening, she's assigned to lead this project.
She has very little dealings with the African American community and has no idea what she might find to add to the tour. She tentatively approaches Grace Clark, a retired school teacher who just happens to own an antebellum home, though no one knows how that came to be. Grace agrees to help Roxanne, but only if Roxanne comes with her each week and tours the buildings with her and meets the people. While she is begrudging of such a task at first, by midway through the book she has met some wonderful people and begins to care deeply for them. She also hears stories that horrify her.
Suddenly Roxanne's life opens up to a side of life she's never seen and as she starts to hear the stories of hardship and oppression that has been endured by the "hidden" community, she begins to grow in her own resolve to become the person she wants to be, not who she feels she should be.
I loved the characters in this book and was completely engrossed in their lives. This is not a book that lends itself to a sequel, but if one did come out, I would snatch it up immediately.
