lazaretto by diane MCKINLEY-whetstone

Lazaretto by Diane McKinney-Whetstone
334 pages

What’s it about?
 This novel begins in Philadelphia right after the civil war.   Meda, a young black woman, gives birth to a child fathered by her wealthy white boss.  What happens to Meda and her child is a story of a particular time and place.  Like all good historical fiction this novel takes us back to a time that we did not experience.

What did it make me think about?
 It was really interesting.  The same human dramas run through the story, but the time in history made the story unique and informative.
 
Should I read it?
 I enjoyed this one.  I love being transported to another time and place.

Quote-
 "Hadn't her Aunt Maze told her time and again that every situation was not cause for a fight; that she must learn to distinguish between trifling slights and major injustices; that she must let the small things roll off her back , and save her temper for challenging the more egregious treatment; that catastrophe might result over some insignificant matter because of her tendency to overreact.  And it had happened to day; the flick of her finger at the white men in the other boat may have cost Carl his life."

If you liked this try-
Ruby by Cynthia Bond
​Love and Treasure by Ayelet Waldman
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
The Invention of Wings by Sue Mond Kidd

​7 1/2 stars

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