👶👶👶👶: The Book of Lost Friends, by Lisa Wingate

🌷Lisa Wingate has written a beautiful union of past and present in her latest novel, 𝒯𝒽ℯ ℬℴℴ𝓀 ℴ𝒻 ℒℴ𝓈𝓉 ℱ𝓇𝒾ℯ𝓃𝒹𝓈. She tells of the struggles of post-Civil War Reconstruction coupled with the minimal knowledge current generations have of that time period. Wingate includes actual newspaper articles from the post-Civil War time that were distributed in Southern newspapers. These were most fascinating (albeit difficult to read on a Kindle) and really give readers insight to the sheer numbers of people that were displaced during that time.

🤷‍♀️I will admit that the story set in the past was much more compelling than the modern-day narrative. I fell in love with Hannie, a freed slave with an incredible backstory. Juneau Jane, the daughter of a slave owner and his French Creole mistress was just a firecracker of a character. Together, they form quite a team as they struggle to find the man who holds both their futures in the palm of his hand. Throw into the mix the once-spoiled Lavinia who is struggling to recover from a tragic situation, and you have the makings of an extraordinary journey.

Read 6/11/2021